Cold Case
by ninz
Summary: A woman went missing. Was she a murderer? WaTColdCase Crossover featuring mostly Special Agent Danny Taylor and Det. Lilly Rush, but all WaTcharacters will appear. Set before 'Safe'. Like always please R&R! COMPLETE
1. Chapter 1

Just a few things I need to say first:

1. I know this is my third unfinished story, but I'm definitely planning on finishing all of them! I just had another idea I needed to write down, so I did. And I just can't wait to get other's opinions on it so I had to put it up on the internet. I'm gonna _really_ need your help with this one, so please; if you want me to submit write a review.

2. To all Cold Case fans; I just started to watch the show so if I don't get Lilly's character quite right, I'm really sorry. I do like both shows but I usually prefer Without A Trace. (I actually think I'm addicted to WAT, it takes a lot of my time lately, writing WAT fanfiction, making me wonder why I can't be addicted to something more useful. Like maths, or physics for example… that would help me more with my studies…:-)

3. Of course, I'm not making money from this. I'm just satisfying my addiction…

………………

I.

Morgues weren't nice places, there was no arguing about that. The cold, grey tiles, looking the same everywhere – no matter whether you looked to the ground, the walls or even the ceiling – the dead bodies, the smells, the sense of sadness that overcame people if they had to enter such a place.

The restrooms were no prettier than the rest inside the building; looking clean, but old. Grey tiles here as well. The sinks that had probably been once white were discoloured now – probably because they were as old as the rest. They were grey now, as well.

Still Special Agent Danny Taylor clung to the sink as if his life was depending on it, as he rinsed his mouth and tried to even his breathing. It was useless. The taste wasn't going away and wouldn't for another long time, as Danny expected. He raised his head to look into the small mirror, not liking what he saw; but eventually he just shrugged, accepting it. Apart from splashing his pale face with some cool water, there wasn't much he could do to make it look better.

As he slowly felt the life fully returning into his limps, it took him while to convince himself to leave the room. He knew fully well, he'd have to face the people behind that door soon, especially his co-worker Special Agent Samantha Spade who was surely standing in the corridor waiting for him, worried and with more questions than he thought could bear to answer.

There was no chance of a further delay; he'd made Sam wait long enough to have her think was necessary to knock on the door and call out his name: "Danny?"

"I'm okay, Sam…" He tried to sound convincing but failed miserably. "Gonna be out in a second!" One last look into the mirror, a deep sigh – and he grabbed the door handle.

If it had been somebody else, he wouldn't have called it a big deal if they'd stormed to the restrooms to empty their stomach contents into the toilet after seeing a dead body. But for Danny this reactions wasn't normal; as sad as it may sound, he was used to sights like that – it just came with his job.

If Danny was honest to himself he knew it wasn't just seeing the dead man's bloody bullet-ridden body; the unusual reaction had had more to do with what he'd seen _in_ the man – or rather: _who_.

Unable to think of it any longer, Danny shook his head, almost violently as if to shake off the bad thoughts. _Martin is going to be okay_, he told himself silently, had to remind himself again like he'd done a dozen times in the last few minutes, had actually done a million times during the last few weeks. This guy was not Martin, just some poor devil who'd been in the wrong place at the wrong time. After all, with finding the guy here, dead, meant the case was solved. Finding out _who'd_ done this to him, wasn't Danny's problem – and he wouldn't have been keen on it anyway – he guessed the case would be handed over to the local police.

_But it could have been Martin_.

The thought came from nowhere. He tried to shake it off but couldn't.

It had been so close. _So damn close_.

Shaking his head again, Danny finally made it out of the restroom, only to find Sam instantly by his side, her hand laid on his arm, gently. "Danny, you sure you're okay?" her tone was worried, but there was something else in it. He couldn't quite make out what it was.

"Positively. I'm gonna be fine in a minute." He shrugged off her hand, unwilling to let her notice he was still slightly shaking. Taking long steps he walked down the corridor, heading towards the exit. As soon as he was sure, he'd totally regained his composure, he turned around to Sam who was having trouble keeping up with his pace: "At least, he's our guy. Let's give Jack a call, tell him the case is not ours anymore. And get back to the office."

"Sure", Sam mumbled, almost inaudibly as she pulled out her cell phone from her pocket. Danny didn't wait for her to finish her call, just headed for the door, eager to escape the building and the worrying thoughts being in there caused in him. He could feel Sam's stare fixed on his back but ignored it.

………………

As they arrived back their office Danny conceded to Sam the job to inform their boss, Special Agent Jack Malone, about any further details on what they'd seen at the morgue and sat down at his desk without saying a word to anybody. Eager to forget about the case as soon as possible he instantly started to write his report, shutting out the noises of the busy office. The sooner it was finished the soon he could hand it in and turn his attention to something else.

Something that didn't remind him of _that_ night.

Exhausted Danny interrupted his typing for a moment to close his eyes – only to reopen them quickly the next moment as, once again, that picture came to his mind: the dead body on the table, bullet wounds to his chest and stomach, the dead eyes still open, seemingly staring at Danny.

From _Martin's_ face.

It took him a while to shake off the picture his imagination ha created and Danny began to wonder for how long it would be going to haunt him now.

It was the sound of something being dropped on his desk that brought him fully back to reality. He also noticed the shadow of someone standing right next to him and looked up to find his friend and co-worker Special Agent Vivian Johnson returning his gaze with a concerned expression in her eyes.

Danny turned his attention to what she'd dropped on the desk – a small brown paper bag – unable to hide his annoyance. He loved Vivian dearly as a friend, but right now he just wanted to be left alone. Still he nodded towards the bag. "What's that?"

"Sandwich. I brought it for you from the coffee shop down the street. You need some nourishment inside you."

"Viv, I just ate lunch, one hour or so ago."

"Yes, and most of that went down the toilet at the morgue, didn't it?" she asked in her typically calm way of approaching things. And people.

"Who told you that?" Now anger mixed into the annoyance in Danny's voice. He couldn't help it.

Vivian sighed, still all calm and gave him that you-can't-be-serious-look. "Danny…"

"Sam told you, right?" He stood up, ready to leave. This was too much for him at the moment.

"Danny, sit down", Vivian ordered, voice sounding adamant. In a different situation Danny would have laughed at the thought of how the situation must be looking if somebody was watching: Vivian, who was several inches shorter than he was, looking up at him, strictly and with the authority of the older and more experienced, ordering him to sit. That moment, though, Danny felt miserable and not like laughing at all. Yet, there was no way of disobeying – unless he wanted to make things worse. And that wasn't his intention.

So he sat down. But that was all he did although Vivian's gaze was still directed at him and he knew fully well what she was waiting for.

"Don't you wanna tell me what's wrong?" she finally asked exactly the question he'd read in expression long before.

The answer was simple: "No."

"Well, then I'll have to tell Jack."

"Tell what to Jack?" Danny knew he was being childish, but couldn't help it.

_That look_ again. "I'll have to tell him that you're not fit to work."

"Yeah, right. Because you're the one who knows." Deep inside Danny felt guilty about his behaviour. Vivian had just overcome serious heart surgery and was on her second day back at work, still by far not back at full strength – and he was being an asshole, while she was just worried about him.

Actually worried about _him_. Why would she be worrying about him, anyways, he wondered but was too stubborn to give in and ask her.

_After_ _all_, he told himself silently, _it could be worse_.

It _was_ worse, Danny noticed a moment later: Jack was approaching them, his face a mask of anger he could barely hold back. "What's going on?"

Vivian sighed. "Nothing."

Danny turned away from both and wordlessly continued typing his report. Why couldn't they all just leave him alone?

"Didn't look like nothing", Jack said. "Didn't sound like it, either."

"Just a little disagreement, Jack. I was just trying to…"

But their boss interrupted Vivian: "Let's talk in my office."

Danny made to stand up again but Jack shook his head. "I want to speak to Vivian now. But don't get your hopes up, I need to see you, too, afterwards. I'll have Vivian tell you then."

………………

As soon as Vivian had left Danny's thought drifted back to the dead man and from there on to Martin. Special Agent Martin Fitzgerald, FBI missing persons unit, recently hit by three bullets in an ambush while he was transferring a suspected terrorist. Danny's stomach began to feel queasy; again pictures came flooding to his mind – him and Martin in that car; the van in front of them; suddenly it's back doors being opened; the two man coming out of it, shooting at them with their machine guns.

Martin's face after he'd been hit.

A long time ago, Danny had thought he'd never come to like Martin, or just accept him as a full member of their team. Martin Fitzgerald, son of Victor Fitzgerald, who was nothing less than the Deputy Director of the FBI. Danny had found hard to believe that Jack was going to force him to work with this guy and he'd done everything to give Martin a hard time. But, liking it or not, after a while Danny had had to admit that Martin was actually _okay_.

All that had been along time ago, and over the years they'd grown even close, as close as two grown-up, straight, homophobic men could allow themselves to be to each other. Danny couldn't think of any other guy that had been such a good friend to him, earnest and always there, when needed. He had even thought he'd give his life for Martin, should he have to.

Until the moment had come to prove it and he'd failed. Being a damn coward. And everybody in the office knew.

"Thinking about him again?" the voice belonged to Vivian, warm and gentle as always, and Danny found himself relaxing a little at its sound. But he couldn't bring himself to return her smile as he looked up into her eyes.

Without waiting for his answer Vivian motioned towards Jack's office. "He wants to see you now." Then she walked back to her desk.

Taking a deep breath, trying to force down the nervousness that threatened to take over him, he got up and walked towards the glass doors behind which his boss sat, waiting.

"Sit down, Danny", Jack greeted him.

He did, although reluctantly. He expected a lecture, but instead Jack handed him a file.

"What's that?" he asked, but then he saw the name on it. "Amy Bradfort. That case was four months ago."

"It's is still open", Jack said.

"Yeah, I know. What's that to do with me?" Danny was sure that whatever this _had_ to do with him; he was probably not going to like it.

"I just got off the phone with a Detective Rush, Philadelphia Police. Amy Bradfort is a main suspect for murder."

"What?" Unbelievingly Danny opened the file. It contained everything they'd found out about the woman. Murder wasn't mentioned anywhere. "How come, we didn't come across that?"

"Well, the murder happened ten years ago. And Bradfort hasn't been a suspect until the case has been reopened recently by the Philadelphia Police."

"So?"

"It's a new lead, isn't?"

"Jack, not don't want me to…"

"I want you to meet up with Detective Rush and have a look into this. She's coming to New York, will actually arrive in…" Jack looked at his watch. "… thirty minutes. I told her to meet you at the reception in an hour…"

"_Her_? – Jack, you can't be serious. We're still one agent down and Martin won't be back for another two or three weeks. You can't _afford_ to send me out for useless assignments and make me follow up silly leads…"

"It's work. It has to be done by someone and…"

"… and you thought I'm the right one to do it, right?" As anger welled up inside him Danny got up from the seat and started pacing up and down through Jack's office.

"Danny, sit down again." But he couldn't. He needed to get rid of that furious energy inside him. Only when Jack repeated the sentence, his voice dangerously low, he slumped down on the chair, ready to resign to the inevitable.

Jack sighed before speaking again. "Listen, I got a replacement for Martin, and Viv's back, if only on desk duty. We're getting along and I figured I'd take some pressure off you. I'll give you two days, if you haven't found anything until then…"

"Why are you doing this, Jack?"

"I just told you."

"So this is meant to make me feel better?"

Jack rolled his eyes and sighed again, deeply. "This is a high-pressure job. You still seem affected by what's happened to Martin. I just thought… well, that you could do with a little break from our routine, time pressure and all."

"So you're making me feel like I'm not up to it. Great. That's surely good for me. Thanks Jack for your trust in me." Furiously, Danny rose from the chair and headed towards the door. Without looking back he told his boss. "I'll give you call, _if_ I find out anything."

He heard Jack say something but wasn't willing to listen. All he wanted was to get out of the building. Some fresh air. Not having to see the faces in there, anymore.

He wondered how he'd let it come to this. No matter what Jack said, he was almost sure his boss had given him this assignment to punish him, or to have him out of the way. Either of it, maybe even both. He'd messed up – he, Jack Malone's former golden boy, his great discovery. Danny thought back to when Jack had first hired him – against other's advices – a young agent, hot-headed and inexperienced but also determined and self-confident enough to adjust quickly to the high pressure the job involved.

A sigh escaped as he stepped into the elevator to get out of the building, unsure what he was going to. At least until he was supposed to meet that Detective Rush. Finally he decided on taking a walk.


	2. Chapter 2

II.

Special Agent Vivian Johnson was sitting at her desk writing her report on the most recent case, when she saw the door to her boss' office being opened. From afar she watched her co-worker Danny Taylor more or less storming out and heading down the corridor towards the elevator. Although she'd had no chance to see his face, from the way he moved she could tell that he was furious.

For a moment she was tempted to go after him, but she quickly decided against it – for several reasons; first of all she knew from experience that it was probably useless anyways, second was he was long gone and she wasn't quite fit at the time being due to her recent heart surgery and so she'd never catch up, and last – and most important: being honest to herself she really didn't feel like dealing with his bad mood right now.

She'd just focused on the report again when from the corner of her eye she saw the door being opened again, and now it was Jack Malone, her boss, who stormed out. _Now, this is starting to get ridiculous,_ she thought as she watched Jack coming her way.

"Hey Jack!" she called out to him ignoring the fact that he was wearing his don't-talk-to-me-face. "What's going on?"

"Nothing. Got the report done? I need it as soon as possible", he growled.

"Jack, I just started writing it. We wrapped the case up only less than one hour ago, and I spend fifteen minutes in your office talking to you about…"

"Yes, I know, I'm sorry…" Jack admitted, sounding a little contrite. "I did mean to… well, rant at you like that. It's just that… well, we're all not quite ourselves these days…"

Vivian sighed, thinking about Danny. Thinking about _Martin_. "Yeah I know." For a while she considered asking what had happened in Jack's office, then abolished the idea.

Jack, though, must have read the question in her mind, or maybe it was written all over her face – more than likely it was, she realised after thinking about it.

"Your wondering about Danny, aren't you?"

"Well, he came storming out of your office and walked down the corridor almost bumping into _several_ people. You know Danny, he _never_ bumps into people, unless he wants to – to provoke them."

"Well, maybe he _did_ want to provoke them. The way he was when he left I guess, he would have been happy to vent his anger on somebody."

"What the hell did you say to him?" Vivian asked. She knew Danny, better probably than anybody else in the office, and she knew that his anger would usually not come unfoundedly. There was always a reason.

She had come to know the younger agent as being a friendly, easygoing and generally happy person, who was famous and popular among colleagues for his usual good mood and his charismatic and sympathetic way of dealing with other people. She knew, though, on some days it was a mask he wore, to hide other emotions, since he wasn't the kind of person who'd share his problems with everybody – but on most days, his cheerfulness was genuine.

Vivian was pretty sure about that since from what she knew about his past, he wouldn't have made through his rough childhood and troubled teenage years if it hadn't been for that natural cheerfulness that had made it possible for him to get back up from however deep he had fallen. And he'd fallen _really_ deep.

If he'd get angry – which of course _did_ happen once in a while – he'd blow up and get over it just as quickly. And it didn't happen without a reason. But Jack seemed reluctant to tell her what the reason was and so Vivian decided to wait until he might be willing to talk to her. She was going to be patient. No trouble for her.

Nonetheless she was worried about Danny. And about Jack as well. Something had happened between them, and especially Danny hadn't been the same at all since she'd come back after her heart surgery. She'd noticed before, when he'd turned up at her home, once, to say hallo, after she'd been released from the hospital. He'd seemed different; nervous and edgy. Not a surprise, actually, after what he'd been through, being ambushed and all.

But he just didn't seem to get over it – and _that_ was what had Vivian worried the most.

"I… handed him a new assignment. He didn't like it. That's all."

"_That's all_?"

"From what he said I gathered that he thought I wanted to get rid of him here", Jack finally added, with a sigh.

"And? Did you?" He was avoiding to look her in the eyes, and that made Vivian curious.

"Maybe, I don't know."

"Jack…"

"Look. He messed up. Twice. Really, really messed up. I don't know what to do with him, he's been a different person lately. I sent him to Dr. Harris but he says he doesn't need a shrink, and _if_ he goes to the appointments, she tells me he's being uncooperative, doesn't let her help him. I don't want to have fire him because he keeps screwing up, so I hope this case and the relatively little pressure it'll put on him will help him get his head straight. That's all I can say." Jack rubbed his eyes, and Vivian noticed for the first time that day how down and exhausted her boss looked. She decided to try and cheer him up by giving him her warmest smile.

He smiled back, thankfully.

"Anything new on Martin?" she asked for a change of subject.

"Not much. As far as I know, he's doing well – given the circumstances. He'll be back in about three weeks or so I think."

"That's good to hear."

"Yeah…" Jack yawned and walked away. Vivian stared after him for a while then went back to writing her report.

………………

Detective Lilly Rush walked down the busy streets towards the FBI-headquarters, feeling slightly uneasy. She couldn't say for sure if it was the city that made her so uncomfortable or the case she was working on. She had felt bad about it from the first moment but since she'd got out of her car thirty minutes earlier at the motel the agent she'd spoken to on the phone had suggested – it was just a few blocks away from the FBI building – the uneasiness had increased.

She took a look at her watch, almost 4.30, she was supposed to have arrived ten minutes ago. Shaking her head while wondering why lately everything just seemed to wrong she quickened up her pace, realising how that made her fit in perfectly, hurrying down the streets, as most people did.

Lilly had always found New York impressing but also a little intimidating. She couldn't say for sure whether she _liked_ the city or _hated_ it, but there was most certainly nothing in between. There was this certain attractiveness it had, making her feel drawn towards it, but also its anonymity and mercilessness drove her away.

When she noticed she had reached to building she'd been aiming for, she quickly checked to assure it was the right one – all buildings looked so alike here – before she entered and walked towards the reception. This place was as busy as the streets outside. Men and women were walking in and out all the time, nobody took the time to look at her.

Except for one man she suddenly noticed. He was watching her from the far end of the room, face expressionless or so it looked from where she was standing. He was also the only person who wasn't hurrying to get somewhere, he made more the impression of someone waiting for somebody else. This had to be her contact. Lilly was confused; she had expected somebody older. This man was only around thirty, thirty-five at the most, from what she could tell.

Obviously he'd also figured out by now who she was because he walked up to her with a few quick steps, stopping right in front of her and looking down at her. He actually had to _look down_ at her, something Lilly wasn't at all used to.

She thought of her usual partner, Detective Scotty Valens, who she could easily look straight into the eyes when they were standing opposite eachother. Lilly would have preferred having him here with her now but he'd had to stay behind in Philadelphia, following up a different lead to the case.

"You Detective Rush from Philly?" the man asked now and a pair of dark, piercing eyes bore their gaze her into own.

Lilly took a deep breath, catching herself thinking that this man reminded her of what she'd thought of New York City only minutes before; _impressive_ and _intimidating_. That, especially the second attribute, was probably not just due to his height, but also his taut features that still lacked any sign of showing emotion.

Tall and slender, though, he was certainly _attractive_, too. That made her angry, maybe because it was about the first thing that had come to her mind when she'd first noticed him.

_Attractive?_

Lilly was shocked. Where had _that_ _thought_ just come from? Hastily she opened her mouth to say something. "Yes, Detective Lilly Rush. Hi."

He extended his hand to grab hers for a very quick, firm handshake. "Danny Taylor. My boss sent me to meet you. You're late", he said, shortly.

She just nodded, feeling anger rise inside of her. She didn't like him. She couldn't even have said why, but there was something about him that made her feel very uneasy.

Lilly wasn't particularly fond of good-looking men, in her experience they usually knew about their good looks, making them arrogant and difficult to get along with. And she was almost sure Special Agent Danny Taylor was no exception to that – _Hell, even Scotty isn't really an exception!_ – and she briefly wondered if the fact that he was _Special Agent_ Taylor and she was just _Detective_ Rush would make things even harder.

Forcing herself to stay professional she finally asked: "So… shall we stand here all day or go up to your office to talk things over? – By the way, do you have a cafeteria or something because I haven't had lunch; I'm starving."

The slightest hint of a smile appeared on Taylor's face and his voice sounded a bit softer than before, as he spoke. "Well, no cafeteria, I'm sorry. There's a few vending machines down in the basement, where you could get a coffee and a chocolate bar, but I'd highly recommend you to get something proper. There's a coffee shop just 'round the corner from here, where they make good sandwiches. We can talk about the case there."

Lilian agreed, not yet daring to relax around him.

………………

A good ten minutes later they sat opposite eachother at one of the tables at the commended coffee shop. No words had been exchanged on the case so far, since Lilly was still too busy wolfing down her food. Danny Taylor watched her, seemingly amazed. She was sure she could actually detect a hint of amusement around his eyes.

Lilly knew what made him amused: she didn't look the type of woman who you'd normally expect to wolf down a sandwich like that. Her skinny frame and pale, porcelain like skin gave her a delicate appearance, which tended to make people underestimate her. She had experienced it several times in past. Sometimes it annoyed her, but it was actually more often than not an advantage.

"Hm, these are really good." Finally Lilly swallowed her last bite and climbed out of the booth she was sitting in a little awkwardly. "Gonna go and get another one."

As she did so she took a look around. This place was nice, small and comfortable. She guessed that during the lunch hours it would be crowded. Now, though, only half of the seats were taken. She ordered another sandwich and a coffee at the bar, waited for it to come up and made her way back to the table.

The second sandwich was gone, _almost_ as fast as the first. She could feel Taylor staring at her and when she looked up at him she noticed that he was giving her the first real smile since they'd met thirty minutes ago. "Where do you put all that?" he asked, looking her up and down, and as the smile was reaching his eyes now, he suddenly looked a lot more sympathetic than before.

Lilly just shrugged. "Most of it I put into the job. Burns a lot of calories, this job… – Let's talk about the case", she changed the subject.

Taylor sighed but nodded. The smile was gone and Lilly thought that she was probably right about the first impression she'd had on him. He'd thought he could impress her with that charming smile of his, maybe flirt a little. It didn't work so he decided to go back to being cold and unfriendly.

_Charming_? Did she just think of the word _charming_?

_Keep focused, Rush_, she told herself and started to unpack her notes on the case from her briefcase. "That's all we've got so far…", she mumbled, but it was more directed to herself.

"So?"

"Huh?"

"Would you mind filling me in on the murder case you're investigating?" Taylor's voice sounded impatient now, he'd arched up his eyebrows in expectation.

"Yeah, sure… um… 1991 Mrs Dina Larstrom…" she was interrupted by herself, reeling, as she tried to pronounce the name: "…Lar-sh-trome… Las-strom… I don't know how pronounce that name… however, she was found in her apartment, dead. Back then everything pointed towards the conclusion that she had committed suicide; she'd died from an overdose of sleeping-pills, her husband, Ole La… well, her husband had died three months earlier in a plan crash when he was going to visit his family back in Sweden – so there's the motive – _and_ she'd even left a suicide note. The case was not further being investigated… until three days ago."

"What happened?" The question sounded genuinely interested, Lilly had to admit that.

"Well", she went on. "A woman came to us last week. She lives in the neighbourhood of where Dina used to live. She told me and my team, that he'd had a few neighbours over for tea, recently and they'd talked about Dina. It was the anniversary of her death, I think. One of the women had said, she thought, that maybe if Dina's next door neighbour and close friend Amy Bradfort hadn't been out of town that weekend, the suicide might not have happened."

"And, let me guess, Amy Bradfort _wasn't_ out of town, right?"

_Oh, seems that you're smart, Agent Taylor_, Lilly thought, but aloud she said: "Yes, that's what the other neighbour, Sally Lager, told us. She said that she had seen Amy Bradfort in a shop on the other side of the town, but Amy had said she'd been in _San Francisco_ the whole weekend to visit her daughter."

"And this Mrs…Lager, right? She seemed credible? Because old women tend to gossip, you know…"

There was now this undisguised arrogance in Taylor's words that made Lilly furious and she decided she wasn't going to have that. "Agent Taylor, we are more than qualified to verify that what she was saying was true. We found other witnesses that saw her and…"

"And how come, your Mrs Lager didn't come forward before?"

"She didn't know, that Amy Bradfort should have been in California until she heard about it last week."

"You believe her?" The cockiness was gone but his tone still sounded sceptical.

"As a matter of fact I do. So will you let me finish or not?" she shot back, involuntarily aggressive.

He raised his hands as to defend himself. "Okay, okay, sure… go on!"

"Well, we talked to a few people and followed Amy Bradfort's trace to New York. But we couldn't find her here, instead we found out that the FBI was looking for her, too. So I made a few calls, and finally had your boss on the phone, Agent…"

"Malone."

"Malone, right. And that's why I'm here. – So, what have you found out about her?"

"Not much. She has lived here in New York for almost eight years, paid her taxes, went to work every day, had no children. But there was a neighbour she's been very close to. That neighbour was the last person who saw her before she literally disappeared _without a trace_."

Lilly finished her coffee and got ready to go. "She seems to have a tendency to be close to the ones right next to her… doesn't she? Guess, we need to pay that neighbour a visit."


	3. Chapter 3

Thanks for your reviews so far. Please continue writing them!

I'm still deciding how to continue with 'The New Assignment', but I guess there'll be an update on that soon as well.

III.

Special Agent Martin Fitzgerald sat on the couch in his apartment, staring at the blank TV screen. He had sat there and hadn't moved for five minutes, and he was suddenly very aware of it as on the display of his VCR the time changed from 6.11 to 6.12. Outside, the summer was turning into autumn and thanks to the bad weather they'd had for a few weeks it was already getting dark outside. Martin turned his face towards the window. He hadn't switched on the light in his apartment, and, as it had become usual to him, a simple task like standing up, walking across the room and doing exactly that, cost so much energy it seemed close to impossible.

There wasn't a part of Martin's body didn't seem to ache with every movement he made and some of the pain was permanent, even as he sat still.

_Click!_

The light was being switched on. Martin blinked in the sudden unexpected brightness.

"Mr. Fitzgerald, why are you sitting in the dark?"

It was Amanda, his housekeeper. She was fifty-five years old and pretty plump, but lively and actually surprisingly fit. A lot fitter than him, these days. In fact, right now Martin felt as if he were a hundred years old instead of his actual thirty-four years.

Amanda had from the very first day asked him to call her by her first name because she thought _Mrs Keating_ made her feel old. Meanwhile she stubbornly stuck to her habit of calling him _Mr. Fitzgerald_ which always sounded a bit strange to him.

_Obviously she's never been shot in the gut, because then she'd know what really makes you feel old_, Martin thought, bitterly, but felt bad about it. Even more so when Amanda put a well-filled plate of food in front of him.

Usually Amanda would come once a week to clean up a little because Martin's job made it impossible to do it himself, regularly. Her husband didn't earn much so she needed a bit of extra-money and Martin paid her well and made sure to be a good and fair employer. However, after he'd been released from the hospital four days ago, Martin had called her up to tell her he might need her a little more often for a while, and ask if that would be okay.

He hadn't expected her to be as committed as she was, though; he'd hoped she could come in trice a week, help him with things he'd do himself usually – such as buyinggroceries, even_ cleaning_ _the damn dishes_…– but just didn't seem able to do alone now. Instead she'd taken to appear every day, fuss about him, cook for him and made sure he ate. Or at least tried to. On most days, Martin's stomach still felt too messed up to absorb any food, but Amanda was usually adamant.

Without much interest he eyed the plate. Amanda had made some filleted fish and potatoes, and the food seemed to stare back at him, unattractively. On a different day Martin would have _laughed_ at the amount she'd brought – it wasn't even _half_ of what he'd used to consider a full meal – but instead he just took the fork Amanda had brought with the plate and started to pick at the food.

Amanda watched it for about a minute before she shook her head. "You really need to make a little more effort, you know? There's nothing left on you as it is, and how do you expect your body to heal if you don't feed it?"

Martin shrugged but didn't answer. He noticed Amanda was holding something in her hands. It looked like a piece of clothing; one of his dress-shirts, maybe. What was she doing with it? She sometimes did some ironing for him but the shirt didn't look like it needed it. It was only when Amanda held it right under his nose, he remembered. It wasn't his it was _Danny's_.

They'd been on a hunt for some guy they'd wanted to arrest, Martin had stumbled and fallen over – it had been _embarrassing_, he could still hear Danny who _would not stop_ laughing afterwards – and since they'd been close to where Danny lived they'd fetched some clothes for Martin to get changed without having to tell anybody. (Of course, everybody _had_ noticed after all, because Danny'sclothes just didn't look like _his _clothes and they hadn't fit him very well, either.)

"This was on your kitchen table you want me to put it in the wardrobe for you?" Amanda asked.

"No." Shaking his head was almost too much for Martin. "It's a friend's. He's gonna come by tonight and I was planning to give it back to him. Although, I'm sure he's forgotten all about that shirt by now."

Amanda nodded. "I'll put back in the kitchen then."

"No, just leave it here." She put it on the back of his armchair and Martin forced a smile. "Thanks, Amanda."

"No problem." She eyed him critically before saying: "I got everything else done, and it's getting a bit late for me. Okay, if I leave now?"

"Yeah, sure." The truth was Martin was relieved she was going to leave him alone for while. No matter how nice she was, he wouldn't be able to bear her fussing about him much longer. But he didn't want to be impolite so he didn't say anything.

Amanda turned to leave, but not without looking at him, strictly. "Eat your food, Mr. Fitzgerald!"

As soon as she was gone, though, Martin pushed the plate away. His stomach churned at the mere thought of eating. His eyes rested on Danny's shirt still lying on his armchair. He sighed.

He'd hardly seen Danny since the… _incident_. In fact, he'd seen him just once; Danny had come by the hospital one evening, looking tired and very stressed out. They hadn't spoken much; Martin still too weak to talk much and Danny seemingly _not knowing what to say_ – which was a rare thing to happen. After thirty minutes of awkward silence he had left and hadn't come back.

Now Martin didn't know whether he should be looking forward to Danny's visit that night or dread it. Sometimes Martin caught himself thinking that he missed Danny. In fact, he knew quite well that he _did_ miss him, but not the Danny who'd visited him in hospital. He wanted back the friend he'd had before _it_ had happened – and the relationship they'd had; the joking, the laughing, the teasing – hell, even the rare arguments they used to have were better than that awful silence in the hospital room!

But what if this was exactly what it would be like tonight?

Martin's thoughts were interrupted by the telephone ringing. He cursed himself for having forgotten to tell Amanda to put the phone into his reach. Getting up and walk over to the sideboard at the other end of his living room felt like too much for him now.

And the answering machine was quicker, anyway. "Hey… um… hi Martin." He felt his body tense up. That was Danny's voice. "Listen, I'm sorry, but I think I'll have to cancel tonight. I gotta new case and… well, I'm sorry."

………………

Danny put the phone away the moment Detective Rush got into the driver's seat of the car. They'd been so close to the motel she'd suggested to take her car. Danny hadn't minded; right now he wasn't up for driving anyway.

Rush had said she wanted to fetch something from her room and had unlocked the car for him so he could get in. It was getting cold outside these days and it was getting dark early as well. Danny wasn't a big fan of the upcoming winter months but he was careful to not let it show as much as Sam did; her constant nagging about the cold was already enough, the rest of the team wouldn't be able to put up with another one of that kind.

"Important call?" Rush asked, giving him a smile.

_Oh look at that, she can actually smile_, Danny thought but knew he was being unfair. Rush hadn't been _that_ unfriendly and he was aware of the fact that he hadn't greeted her very warmly, either, but then again, he was still fighting against the bad mood this assignment had caused. He was _trying_ to be polite, and if that wasn't enough, well, he couldn't help it. Unable to smile back he just answered: "No."

_None of your damn business, Princess_.

What was that? _Princess_?

Danny shook his head at himself and took a close look at her. Yeah, she _did_ remind him of a princess; the kind of woman who'd get anything she wanted and if she didn't she'd just scream loud enough until she does. And then that dainty body, pale skin, blond hair… She was pretty, too, no doubt about that.

But she wasn't exactly his type. The kind of pretty he preferred; he liked women with curves, that had a little strength in them, _physical_ strength – _and looked like it_. Hell, he liked women one could have sex with without being scared of burying them underneath oneself, suffocating them.

_Sex_?

He was actually _thinking about_ _Sex_?

Something was going to have to happen. Being a man or not – _nothing_ in this situation should make him think about sex.

Luckily, Rush helped him out this time: "Could you please give me directions because you're the one who lives here in New York."

_Ha_! – there it was again, the icy tone. Thank God – he'd been about to miss it.

The only conversation being made during the rest of their drive was Danny telling her which way to go until they finally reached the house where Linda Guerin lived – _the neighbour_. Danny remembered the last time he'd been here with Vivian. It hadn't helped them much. Linda Guerin was a wealthy widow in her forties; she was friendly, yet didn't seem too smart, as far as Danny could recall. And she hadn't been able to tell them anything of importance.

Rush parked the car in front of her house and they got out. When they rang the doorbell it didn't take long until the door was being opened and Mrs Guerin stuck her head out, eyeing the two of them, suspiciously. Her eyes rested on Danny, recognition obvious on her face but it seemed like she couldn't quite place him.

So he introduced himself – and left it to Rush to introduce herself, which she did – not without shooting him a spiteful glance, though. Danny ignored it.

""Mrs Guerin, may we come in?" he asked now and when she hesitated he quickly explained why he and Rush were here.

"Oh, right. Sure." Mrs Guerin stepped aside so they could slip past her into the house. Once inside, Danny took in the surroundings. The inside of the house looked very different from the last time he'd seen it; the walls had been painted, and the carpet was new as well. When Mrs Guerin led them into the living-room and asked them if she could get them something Danny noticed that almost all furniture was new. And it looked expensive, too.

Shaking his head at himself, he wondered why this mattered. After all, Mrs Guerin was a _wealthy_ widow and her husband hadn't died that long time ago. Wasn't it normal she was changing the look of her home, so she wouldn't always be reminded of him? It sure was, he decided and turned his attention from the room back to its owner.

"Just a moment, I'll just make some coffee and I also have chocolate cake, if you want", Mrs Guerin said and was about to disappear into the kitchen.

"Mrs Guerin I would prefer if we could do this quickly. Detective Rush and I just have a few more questions and we'll be done in few minutes", Danny quickly replied. He saw the look on Rush's face –_What, have I been impolite again?_ – and then added, towards Mrs Guerin: "Just please sit down, it really won't take long."

"Ok…"

Obviously afraid, he could say something else she wouldn't like, Rush took over: "Mrs Guerin, we need you to tell us if you have ever heard the name Dina Lastrom before."

Silence as the woman was obviously thinking. Finally, she answered: "Yes, wasn't that Amy's friend who committed suicide? That was like… a lifetime ago wasn't it?"

"Still can be important", Danny explained. "Now, this is going to be hard, but… um… has Amy ever said anything that could make you think that Dina hadn't killed herself?"

Mrs Guerin hesitated for a while then she asked: "What… what do you mean?"

"We believe Dina Lastrom was murdered."

For a moment there was a look of shock in Mrs Guerin's eyes, but it quickly disappeared, being replaced by obvious disbelief. "Oh my God! That's terrible." She hesitated. "But… you don't think Amy…?"

Danny felt sorry for her, as he told her what he had to say: "I'm afraid we believe that Amy could have killed her."

"No, that's impossible. Why in God's name would you think she could have done something like _that_?"

Danny sighed and was about to say something when Rush was quicker: "She gave the police a wrong alibi back then."

"But why would she have to give them an alibi at all, if it was suicide?" Mrs Guerin asked in a small voice.

"What _Detective Rush_ _meant_ was that she lied to the police. And when people lie to the police they usually do that because they've something to hide." If looks could kill, Danny was sure he'd be dead by now but he ignored Rush's spiteful look once more and continued to speak: "So, Mrs Guerin, we _really_ need you to _think_ about this; has Amy ever said something that could make you believe she murdered Mrs Lastrom?"

"God, no!" Mrs Guerin shook her head, insistently.

"I'm not talking about confessing it to you, but was there _anything_ that could hint to the conclusion that she did it?"

Close to tears now, the woman shook her head.

Now Rush interfered: "Now, I think that's enough… I suggest we leave now and if you can think of anything you can give me a call."

Was it his imagination or had she just accentuated the word _me_ in her sentence? Danny watched as Rush handed Mrs Guerin her business card and made to leave. He followed her. Once they were outside and the door was closed behind them Rush turned around towards him, eyes flashing with rage. "What was that about? You couldn't have asked her more directly, could you? Ever heard of being diplomatic?"

"I just think you're getting more out of somebody if you ask directly", Danny defended himself but suddenly felt stupid. Why did he have to defend himself? He'd done this job for years; he was experienced enough to know what he was doing.

"Whatever." With quick steps Rush walked back to her car. "Let's go."


	4. Chapter 4

IV

Danny awoke with a yelp. He let a groan follow when he realised he had just dreamt and was now sitting bolt upright in his bed at four a.m., wide awake_ of course_…

_Great, another freakin' nightmare._

He'd had so many of them since _that_ night he'd lost count a long time ago. They'd become a little less frequent about a week after the ambush, but still they kept haunting him every other night, sometimes more often. And they always contained pictures of a wounded Martin bleeding to death on a cold street, always leaving Danny to wake up, feeling helpless and _so, so _angry.

He didn't even know for sure _who_ or _what_ caused the _anger_ – but like always the by now well-known furiousness crept into his body _and_ mind once again, making it impossible to get back to sleep.

So with another groan he finally got up, pulled on a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt and walked into his tiny living-room to sit on the couch and turn on the TV.

He briefly thought about the last day; the dead man at the morgue, his embarrassing reaction to that sight, the unpleasant conversation he'd had with Jack, Detective Rush…

_Hell, no! No thinking about her now!_

After their visit at Mrs Guerin's they'd both decided to call it a day and she'd let him get off the car at the next subway station so he could make his way home and they'd agreed to meet in the morning around eight, at the office. By the time they'd parted the atmosphere between them had been icy, and Danny had been happy to get away from her. She was making him angry, too.

_Most things seemed to make him angry lately._

When he'd got home he'd decided to get an early night and had gone straight to bed. He should have known it wasn't a good idea, because he'd wake up early, but he spent most of the last night up, working on his team's last case and therefore, he'd been pretty tired by the time he'd arrived at his apartment.

_His team._

He wondered for how long there would be _his team_. Lately, the team just seemed to be falling apart. He had no idea whether they _were_ or were _not_ going to make it through these hard times. Especially Martin.

_Martin._

Guilt rose up inside Danny. He thought of how he'd called off the meeting with his friend. It had been set for a week, and he'd really meant to go! After all, he knew from what Sam had said that Martin kept asking about him.

_He's worried about you Danny_.

He had actually no idea _why_ Martin would be worried about him but he'd set his mind on showing his friend that there was no need to worry. And then again, he'd found another excuse to put it off. Not even a good one, either…

The truth was, he'd been too afraid to go, still vividly remembering the last time he'd gone to see Martin, how seeing him in the hospital had caused Danny to feel guilty… for not having ended up the same way, for not having been able to help him any better, for not…just for everything he had not done.

And yet, now he now felt guilty for not going.

It seemed he could only do wrong, _whatever_ he decided to do.

Reaching for the remote control Danny started to flip through the channels to try and find something that could distract him from his dark thoughts for a while. When he found a channel where there was some cheap porn on, he put the remote back on the table and watched for a while, hoping this would maybe help him loose his tenseness – but he quickly realised that what once he may have liked watching now seemed all silly and embarrassing to him.

So after staring at the screen for a while without any reaction whatsoever, he turned the TV off with a sigh. The anger was still there inside him, and maybe some physical exercise might help to get rid of it. He could go for a nice long run, spent all of this angry energy – he'd done it before, actually quite often lately, and in most cases it worked – and afterwards he could get ready to go to work early. After all, he still had that report to write.

Nodding in agreement with himself Danny rose from the couch, seen as now he at least had a plan.

………………

When Special Agent Samantha Spade got out of her car, she was sure she'd for once be the first to arrive at work; it was only about a quarter past seven and usually everybody was due in at eight. But Sam hadn't slept well and had finally got up at six. She hadn't been able to shake the memories of that last evening; Martin had called her. He'd sounded worried, but knowing him well enough, Sam had also detected hints of sadness in his still weak voice as he spoke.

"_How's Danny? He okay?"_

Sam didn't really understand why Martin was so concerned. Sure, Danny had been in _that car_, too – but to Sam he'd always appeared to be somebody who wouldn't let himself get unsettled by this kind of thing so easily. And apart from that incident at the morgue the previous day – and there could have been _any_ reason for that – and being a bit tired from time to time when he hadn't slept well, Danny seemed quite fine to Sam.

As she rode up the elevator she checked the time again. _7_._26_. Sam snorted at her watch. This was way too early. She wasn't in a good mood. But she guessed that waking up early after a night like she'd just had could do that to a woman. Giving its stupid '_pling!_' the elevator arrived at the desired floor and Sam stepped out of it and walked down the corridor.

Considering the time she'd arrived she was actually surprised to find that Danny was already there – sat behind his desk, eyes fixed on his computer screen.

She briefly wondered if he had slept any better than her; he didn't look like he had – in fact he looked like he hadn't slept at all – but no matter for how long she watched him; pity just wouldn't come. She was too angry with him to feel sorry.

Despite knowing better she walked over to him.

"Morning." She couldn't help her voice sounding cold.

"Morning…" He didn't avert his eyes from the computer.

He obviously expected that if he didn't make any conversation she would leave again, but she remained standing where she was until, finally, she gathered the wanted attention; Danny turned away from the computer and looked up into her eyes, his eyebrows arched up. "Is there anything I can help you with?" He sounded annoyed.

"I just wanted to tell you Martin says hi."

Sam could have sworn that the expression in Danny's eyes changed for a split second, to looking hurt and guilty at the same time, but before Sam could make out if that was really the case, he had lost that look again and she could feel her anger rise once more. "You know, he was pretty down last night about you cancelling your visit."

"I'm sorry about that." Danny had continued to type and stare at the computer. "How's he doing?"

"Getting better. Not thanks to you, though."

"Well, I'm not a damn doctor, am I?" He didn't even _look_ at her as they were speaking!

"That's not what I meant, Danny."

No reaction.

"You could at least have made the effort to show up at his place _once_. He says he hasn't seen you in two weeks. And he's worried about you."

"Tell him not to be."

"You should tell him yourself."

_Again_ – no reaction. Sam could feel her patience wear out. "I can't understand why you're so selfish."

Now he _did_ look up at her again, eyes wide open: "_Look who's talking, Sam_. You should be the last person telling me about selfishness, given how you've treated him _before_… _it_."

"Well, at least I've visited him in the hospital and at home and…" She did have more to say, but was interrupted by the noise of Danny's cell phone ringing.

He answered the call and she listened to what he was saying: "Taylor… Detective Rush, hi… okay…? No, it's no problem, I'm here already, anyways… no, I haven't eaten, yet, either… yeah, that's a good idea. I'll be there in ten. Bye." He shut down the computer and rose from his chair, grabbing his coat which he'd obviously tossed carelessly on his desk earlier. "Look, Sam, as much as I've enjoyed our little morning chat, I gotta go now." Without another word he walked out, leaving a perplex Sam behind watching him leave.

………………

Lilly bit heartily into her doughnut and enjoyed its taste for a moment before swilling it down with a sip of her strong black coffee. Amused, she watched Danny Taylor who was sitting in the booth opposite her, crumbling his dry bagel into pieces, every now and then putting a piece into his mouth and chewing on it considerably long. He looked a bit exhausted this morning and she wondered if he was ok.

"Seems, you're not a man of great appetite, Agent Taylor", she finally remarked.

His eyes met hers as his looked up from his plate and he suddenly grinned. "Well, you've met me at a bad time to prove you that I actually _am_."

Lilly grinned back. They'd spent the first five minutes of their morning meeting apologizing to eachother for their behaviour the last day, as none of the seemed willing to work another whole _day_ in this icy atmosphere. Then they'd got themselves some breakfast, and now Lilly couldn't wait any longer.

Taylor obviously had noticed because he looked at her expectantly. "So… what's the big news?"

"I got a call this morning from my partner; they disinterred Dina Larstrom's body – or rather what's left of it – for an autopsy."

"Great, _that's_ improving my appetite", Taylor joked but got serious again very quickly. "So what?"

"Well, Scotty – that's my partner…"

"So I gathered."

"Will you let me finish? Scottys says that the bones reveal that Mrs Larstrom must have broken her collar bone when she was still alive. It healed but one could still tell it was once broken."

"So?"

"When Scotty spoke with Mrs Larstrom mother he mentioned it. By coincidence, actually. But it turns out the mother says that it was impossible, because Dina had never broken a bone at all. So Scotty and the guys started to investigate further and got her complete case history from her doctor and…"

"Let me guess – there was never a broken collar bone."

Lilly nodded. "So, either she _did_ brake her it and didn't have it treated – which I find hard to believe or…"

"… or it wasn't _Mrs. Larstrom_ who got buried in that grave", Taylor finished the sentence for her, fully alert now and his dark eyes were sparkling, eagerly.


	5. Chapter 5

V.

Jack Malone was trying his best, but he couldn't concentrate on the paperwork he was supposed to fill out. The letters kept blurring before his eyes and his mind kept wandering off. He was thinking about the youngest member of his team.

He had hired Danny at the age of only twenty-five – eight years ago from now – against a lot of people's advices. But so far Danny had never really proved him wrong. Of course, he was a bit impulsive sometimes – that didn't have _that_ much to do with his age, though, it was just the way he was – but he was a good, capable agent; courageous and intelligent.

_Malone's Golden Boy_ – as they used to call him in the office. Behind Jack's and Danny's back of course but everybody knew since it was actually a badly kept secret.

Partly because of that Jack had never really understood Danny's reaction to Martin joining the team. Why Danny had felt so threatened by the other man – who was almost a year older than him, but way less experienced.

After wondering for a while Jack had finally put down Danny's bad attitude towards Martin as simply a sign of envy, considering who Martin was – son of the Deputy Director of the FBI – and what background he'd come from. Danny himself had had a difficult childhood and had had to learn how to take care of himself at a rather young age – that was part of why Jack had hired him – while Martin always had his parents to watch over everything he was doing and tell him which way to go.

_Can't have been always easy, either_, Jack thought. Martin's father for instance – that much Jack knew – had wanted his son to go into politics. Martin had tried that direction for a while but had then decided to join the FBI – which probably his parents' hadn't liked – when he was twenty-nine and a little more than two years later had joined Jack's team – which _definitely _Danny hadn't liked…

However, after a difficult start, the two unlike men had become friends eventually, and Jack knew that Danny had been very shaken up by what had happened to Martin.

_But was it just that? _

That was the part Jack was still trying to figure out. Danny's behaviour had been strange, lately; more impulsive than usual, nervous and very irritable. He'd asked the Bureau's psychologist for help, but she had told him there wasn't much she could unless, unless Danny would cooperate.

"_I can't see anything unusual about his behaviour, anyways, Jack."_

"_You haven't noticed anything? Because to me it seems he's not quite himself lately."_

"_Well, if he isn't, he's good at hiding it from me. I have to tell you I can't help if he doesn't open up to me."_

"_So what am I supposed to do?"_

"_I don't know. That's all up to you now because all I can say is I'd clear him."_

So Jack had talked to Vivian about it, asking her for help, when he'd visited her a few days before she'd returned to work – and he hadn't liked what _she_ had told him:

"_You know, he's worked hard over the last couple of month, and you also know I_ still _think he was too young when you hired him, and so I guess, it's possible he was burnt out, even before the ambush. Especially with all that trouble he's been going through, with his brother back in jail and all. And now added that he's probably suffering from post traumatic stress after the ambush it's no wonder he's not himself."_

So was it _maybe_ partly his – Jack's – fault?

Was there anything he could have done? Or could still do?

"_He may just need a few days off."_

"_I suggested that. He didn't want it."_

"… _and you won't force him, I get it."_

"_You want me to suspend him or what?"_

"_No, of course not, but you could try and talk some sense into him."_

"_He'd rather listen to you, wouldn't he?"_

"_I tried. You've got the authority of being the boss."_

"_Yeah, and he'll probably take it all wrong… –_ given how Danny had reacted to being assigned to the Bradfort case Jack knew he had a point there –_ …no, I'll just leave him alone, maybe get him another appointment with Dr. Harris..."_(which he would probably not attend to, but Jack didn't say _that_)_ "He should get over it sooner or later."_

That had been a week ago. And Danny hadn't yet showed any signs of improvement. In fact, judging by his appearance he was only getting worse. Jack had seen him that morning on his way in; much to his surprise Danny had _already_ been heading_ out _of the office again.

And he hadn't even greeted his boss.

Jack had wondered if _maybe_ Danny hadn't seen him, but after thinking it through, he was almost sure that younger man had just _pretended_ to not having seen him.

After all, Jack had got a chance to get a good at his agent and had started to worry that _maybe_, Danny was getting ill – physically ill – now, as well. At least, he definitely hadn't looked well that morning; definitely paler than usually – and _maybe_ thinner as well?

Or was it just Jack's guilty conscious talking? _Maybe_ he was just imagining it? Because he felt bad about giving Danny that new assignment he'd been so angry and unhappy about?

Unable to bear all those nagging _maybes_ any longer, Jack rummaged through the paperwork that had piled up on his desk until he found the little note with the telephone number. Hopefully it would provide the possibility of getting at least a _few_ answers. Picking up the phone he dialled the number and waited, impatiently, for an answer.

………………

Sighing, Lilly surrendered to the adamant noise of her ringing cell phone: "Rush."

"Hi… um… it's Jack Malone. Agent Taylor's boss."

Lilly grinned. "I still remember who you are, Sir", she said and couldn't help the amusement that was probably detectable in her voice as well. "What can I do for you?"

"I… uh… was wondering if you could meet with me."

She hesitated a moment. Why the hell would he want to see her? "Just me?" she finally asked.

"Yes."

"Okay… we're… we're on our way to the office anyway so I guess it wouldn't be a problem." As she hung up she gave Taylor a glance and he was looking back at her, curiously.

"That was your boss", she explained, confused. "He wants to speak to me."

"Probably wants to control if I'm cooperating with you." He frowned.

Now Lilly was even more confused.

Meanwhile, they were, indeed, on the way to the office. Scotty had promised to fax them the full report on the autopsy and so Lilly had given him Taylor's fax number. It was a cold morning, given the time of the year, and it was raining, too – just like it had been for days. But other than being pissed off by the weather Lilly was in a good mood.

The only thing that was beginning to bother her was that call she had just got from Agent Malone. She wouldn't have been surprised if he'd inquired about their investigation, but she would have expected him to call up his agent and ask _him_.

Something was going on – she couldn't put her finger on it but there _was_ something – something that _she_ wasn't supposed to know. She gave Taylor another curious look, but – after having seen him smile considerably often that morning – she had to experience his face being expressionless once again. Just like when she'd first met him.

Not for the first time that morning, she wondered what was going on behind those well-guarded features, those intelligent, dark, almost black eyes. One thing, though, Lilly was pretty sure about, was that Taylor, too, was bothered by his boss' request, probably a lot more than he let on.

Whatever it was, she was going to find out. She was a detective, after all, and it was her job to uncover people's secrets – and she would uncover this one.

………………

Agent Malone was a less impressive looking man than Lilly had imagined him to be after hearing his voice on the phone. He was sitting behind his desk when Lilly entered his office; a dark-haired man in his mid-forties, eyes the same dark colour as Taylor's but a softer look in them, as he eyed her curiously through his reading glasses.

He got up from his seat just slightly to shake Lilly's hand before he sat down again and politely asked her to have a seat as well.

"Thanks", she simply said.

"So… how's it going?"

"Yeah, well… I think you could say we're making some progress." She was about to tell him what they'd found out so far, but hesitated. He wasn't quite content with her answer; she could easily tell that by the look on his face, even though she hardly knew him yet. So, with raised eyebrows she waited but nothing happened.

"Sir?"

He just looked at her.

_Damn it, the man was difficult_. "Something else you wanted to ask me?"

"Yes… actually I was wondering… are you… are you getting along?"

"What – me and Agent Taylor? – Yes. Why wouldn't we?"

"Just curious. So… tell me about the case."

Lilly resisted the urge to shake her head and simply asked: "Sir, may I ask you what this is all about?"

"Nothing really. I just want to get an update on your investigation. I need to keep informed on what's going on."

"With all due respect, Sir, why ask me and not Agent Taylor?"

"I just wanted to meet you."

_Really?_

Lilly was getting angry. She couldn't shake the feeling that she was here because Malone wanted to _check on his agent_, but _why_? What was it that neither Malone nor Taylor wanted to tell her? She really didn't know if she wanted to play this little game much longer.

Neither of them said anything for what could only have been one or two minutes but felt like an awfully long time to Lilly.

"So… any news on Amy Bradfort?" Malone finally continued their odd conversation.

Stifling a sigh – just in time before it came out a very impolite way – Lilly told him what they knew. It wasn't much, but Malone knitted his brows when he heard about the results of the autopsy.

"So… there's a chance we have a case of mistaken identity here?" he finally asked.

"It seems so. I just don't understand how it could have happened."

"You know what strikes me about it?"

She just waited for him to continue:

"After Amy Bradfort first went missing, we interviewed her mother during our investigation. She wasn't of much help to us back then because her and her daughter lost touch a while ago. She said that Amy started to withdraw herself from the people close to her – _after her best friend committed suicide_: Dina Larstrom. And she also said that Dina was exceptionally fond of her daughter – to the point of wanting to be _like_ her."

"So…"

"You thinking what I'm thinking?"

Lilly couldn't help being a bit sceptical. "So, Dina murders Amy and takes up her identity?"

"Possible, isn't?"

"Well, I'm sorry but it _does_ sound a bit farfetched, doesn't? I mean, somebody must have identified the body after they found her."

"True. But couldn't she have had an accomplice who verified the body was hers? Couldn't have been too difficult to make people believe that, if there was a suicide note. And – _as you said_ – whoever was buried in that grave, it obviously _wasn't_ Dina Larstrom."

"Well, it's possible." She cleared her throat. "You know what strikes _me_, Sir?"

He raised his eyebrows.

"Why hasn't Agent Taylor told me all this? He must have known, too."

With a sigh, Malone shook his head. "I don't know." He sounded beat. "I really don't know."

Lilly just nodded. Was this the reason why she was here? Because Malone had expected that Taylor wouldn't quite cooperate with her? She thought of Taylor's words earlier: _Probably wants to control if I'm cooperating with you_, and decided she would have to talk to him about that.

………………

Danny was sitting at his desk reading through the fax he'd received from Detective Valens. His mood had finally improved – especially since Sam was nowhere to be seen and they finally had a real lead to the case. The thought of Rush sitting in Jack's office probably, no, _certainly_ talking about him made him feel a bit uneasy, though, but for now he'd pushed that to the back of his mind.

When he saw Rush approach with quick steps he waved the fax at her and greeted her with a grin.

"Your partner kept his promise. It's the full report on the autopsy and it confirms that the body isn't Dina Larstrom's."

"Great", Rush snapped, reaching for the piece of paper in his hand.

"Hey!" He was about to complain when he saw the anger visible on her face: "Something wrong?"

"Funny, how I could ask you the same, isn't it?"

"Ask _me_?"

"Yeah, _ask you_. I haven't found out, yet, why your boss seems to think it's necessary to ask me to come into his office so he could ask me _how we're getting along_, but I'm starting to think that maybe it's because you are either incapable of doing your job properly or not interested in solving this case."

"What are you talking about?"

"You know what the difference is between you and your boss?" She didn't even let him answer. "You see, he _is_ collaborating in this with me."

"So that means I'm not?" Danny asked, feeling anger rise inside him as well. _Great_ – second time he got involved in a stupid argument today and all of that before ten o'clock in the morning! _And the people used to say he was good with women…_

Danny groaned inwardly as he realised that Rush had even more to say: "Well, at least Agent Malone seems willing to share information with me. He told me things _you_ should have told me long ago."

Danny froze at the thought of what Jack _could_ have told her. "What kind of things?"

"Dina Larstrom, for example. Her exceptional fondness of her best friend Amy Bradfort. You came across that, when you were investigating Bradfort's disappearance, didn't you?"

_Did we? _Suddenly, Danny found it hard to remember much of that investigation. In fact he found it hard to concentrate at all and Rush hadn't even finished yet: "Maybe you're just stupid enough to think you can solve this all by yourself, but I rather think you're just not putting too much effort into it."

"I can't quite follow you…", Danny tried to defend himself, half-heartedly, but Rush cut him off:

"Don't bother. You're not taking this serious? You don't have to. But I do, because I got a job to do. So would you, please, excuse me, I have to call my partner."

Leaving him behind equally to how he'd left Sam behind, earlier, she turned on her heels and marched out of the office, cell phone pressed to her ear. Mouth slightly open in disbelief, Danny watched her slight frame disappear from his view before he even got the chance to say or do anything.

He ran a hand over his face. Things had started good between them that morning; he had no idea how that could have changed so quickly again, but right now he was too exhausted to even care.

………………………………………………………………

Author's notes: You may wonder why in this story Danny's younger than Sam and Martin. It's just because when I first started to watch the show (I missed the first few episodes), I always thought he was the youngest because he looked the youngest (which shouldn't be a surprise because the actor actually _is_ the youngest ;-)


	6. Chapter 6

Ideas keep comin' faster than I can write them down, these days... so here we go again:

VI.

When Lilly returned after her telephone conversation with Scotty she was still angry. But not the anger was longer directed at Taylor; more at herself. She had actually planned to handle this professionally. Not arguing and probably pissing her new co-worker off to the point where real collaborating would probably _now_ be almost impossible.

Yet, she had to admit, that Taylor hadn't looked _that_ pissed off by the time she'd left him. He had seemed more surprised than anything. Thinking about it she felt embarrassed. She had behaved herself like a damn child.

However, she couldn't change what had happened, but what she _could_ do was to apologize and give him a real chance to explain himself.

But Taylor wasn't where she'd expected him to be; at his desk. She turned around, her eyes scanning over the busy open-plan office, but she couldn't detect the tall, dark-haired figure anywhere.

"Excuse me, can I help you?"

Lilly was looking into the eyes of a small African-American woman who was looking back at her, curiously.

Not knowing what to say, Lilly settled for: "I was looking for Special Agent Taylor. You… uh… know him?"

Now the other woman smiled. "Sure. I'm Special Agent Vivian Johnson. I'm his usual partner. Are you Detective Rush?"

"Yes. – Have you seen him?"

"Yeah, he was here a moment ago. Said he was going to be back in a few minutes."

"Did he say where he was going?"

"No."

"Oh."

Johnson obviously detected her confusion. "Don't worry. If he says he'll back soon he will. _That_ hasn't changed."

"What do you mean, _that_ hasn't changed?" Lilly was even more confused. Everything here was confusing!

"So he didn't tell you?"

"Tell me what?"

Johnson just pulled a face. "Of course he hasn't. Why would I think he would?"

"Agent Johnson I _can't_ _follow_ _you_."

The dark-skinned woman cleared her throat, then spoke, hesitantly. "Well, actually I don't feel comfortable telling you about that, behind his back. But since he's not here now and I guess, you may have wondered about his behaviour… – a deep sigh – …let's go and get a coffee, okay?"

………………

Angela Del Pierro may have had an Italian name, but when asked about it she would say that there was blood of so many different nationalities running through her veins, she couldn't tell where her origins really were, and therefore she had settled with calling herself American. That, maybe, was the reason, why her little Restaurant wasn't a typical Italian Restaurant although it served all sorts of Italian food. Technically it wasn't even a real restaurant at all. It was more like a shop; you could buy sweets and tobacco or sit at one of the small tables and order some food.

Angela was running the shop by herself with a little help from two assistants who came to help out on busy evenings. She had just turned sixty-five two months ago and she could hear her husband George nagging every day about selling the shop. But it was her life and she loved the work; especially the visits from her regulars; they always provided an interesting chat and sometimes new customers would join them. Angela was a sociable person and nothing could make her swap this life for another one where she would sit at home alone, bored.

So Angela had made her point about keeping the shop as long as she could still walk. Considering how tough she was that would be another long time.

Mornings were never too busy, especially not around ten a.m., since most people were at work. When Danny Taylor entered the shop that morning he was the only customer. Angela could see from the very first moment that he wasn't doing well; he looked tired and worn out. But it was something she was used to; Danny didn't come here often and in most cases he came when he was either down or very exhausted after long days of hard work.

Angela didn't mind, though. He was a sweet guy and he never got on her nerves by venting his problems on her – like other people did. They would usually have a light, superficial conversation, in most cases about sports, mainly baseball; and she liked to mother him a bit until he was better. Another positive thing about him was that he _never_ _drank_, either.

This morning he walked straight over to the counter where Angela stood, waiting and watching him.

He gave her one of his cute smiles. "Morning Angie."

"Good Morning to you, too. You alright?" She would always ask him although she already knew the answer.

"Yeah, just need coffee and some food", he replied. He would always answer her question with yes, although they both knew it wasn't the truth.

Eyeing him critically she agreed. "You sure do. Sit down, I'll get you the coffee, first."

Two minutes she placed the coffee in front of him at the table he'd chosen. She took the chair opposite him, sat down and waited. When he didn't say anything she finally asked: "Not chosen anything, yet?"

"Huh?"

"The food; have you chosen anything yet?"

"What? – Oh no, I can't decide. Just get me _something_."

Angela nodded. Knowing Danny she decided to just make him some toast with cheese and tomatoes. When she placed the plate in front of him, he was still the only customer in the shop and so she sat down opposite him again. He ate quickly – not minding her watching him – and the food was soon gone.

"Well, that was fast", Angela commented.

"Yeah, gotta get back to work", he said reaching for the coffee mug. "I just had a little time and I couldn't concentrate, you know. So I figured I could use a few calories and some caffeine."

"From the looks of it you could use a bit of sleep as well", she said.

Danny swallowed a mouthful of coffee and grinned. "Nah, I'm okay. But I _could_ _use_ some advice, though."

"Sure. What's up, honey?"

He sighed, obviously a little embarrassed about whatever there was on his mind. "There's this person I gotta work with. And she… well…" he paused looking at her.

"Spill it!" she could hardly hide her amusement.

Danny still hesitated but then sudden he started speaking quickly: "Okay, for God's sakes, I've embarrassed myself already, anyways. Thing is, there's this woman, and it seems that she hates me. I'm pretty sure she thinks I'm the most stupid, incapable agent, no: _person_ in the world."

"So?"

"So what?"

"That's what I'm asking you."

Danny shrugged. "I just don't know how to get along with her. I _simply don't_."

Now Angela grinned and reached out to lightly touch his arm. "Oh c'mon, Danny, can't tell me _that_. I'd say you're just not used to women not falling prey to your charm the very first minute."

Danny gave a scornful snort. "If it were just that…"

"Is it possible that you've fallen prey to her charm?"

Another snort, louder this time. "Her charm? Nah, she's pretty I'll give her that, but that girl has the _charm of a rhinoceros_, believe me."

Angela didn't believe a word of that but she simply asked: "Then why do you bother?"

"Because I'm supposed to work with her."

Padding his arm, Angela could hardly hold back laughter. "So, then that's what you should do, Danny. Why care about what she thinks about you personally? Just do your job."

"Yeah, I suppose you're right." He sighed and pushed the empty plate away. "How much do I owe you?" Getting up from his seat Danny fished some money from his pocket and put on the table. When Angela saw it she shook her head.

"Not _that_ much", she said but knew it was senseless.

"It's okay. You can take it as thanks for the advice, or as hush money for not telling _anybody_ about this conversation", he said as he turned to go. When he was almost out the door he turned around once more. "Thanks, Angie."

"Hey, I'm just doing _my_ job." She watched as he left and kept staring at the door for another while. A smile spread over her face, and when the next customer entered the shop she still hadn't forgotten about the conversation with Danny.

………………

Lilly and Agent Johnson were sitting in the small break-room, door wide open, sipping coffee. None of them had said a word in a while, but Lilly was getting impatient.

"So… what's it you wanted to tell me?"

Putting the coffee cup back on the table Johnson began: "Five weeks ago, one of our agents –good friend of Danny's – was almost shot to death in an ambush while he was transporting a terrorist. I know, it may sound not _that_ bad, now, especially since it's been five weeks ago _and_ he survived _and_ doctors say he is gonna be okay, but it's still bothering Danny."

Letting the words sink in, Lilly tried to imagine what it would feel like. How _she_ would feel if had happened to Scotty. To any of her co-workers. Bad, sure, she would feel bad. _But for so long_? Five weeks… it sounded like a long time.

But then again, she wasn't particularly close to the guys she worked with. They got along, but were they really _friends_?

"Especially since Danny was _in the car_ with him", Johnson continued.

"In the car? You mean, he _watched_ it?"

"Yeah, I guess you could say so. I'm not too sure about what really happened, but I'm pretty sure he's blaming himself for not keeping Martin from getting shot."

"Martin? That his name?"

"Yes."

"And he almost died?"

"Yes."

"And Danny?" Lilly asked, not realising that for the first time she was using Taylor's first name.

"Physically he got out of it with nothing more than a scratch. But mentally… that's what nobody knows…"

Knitting her brows Lilly asked: "What d'you mean, nobody knows?"

"The problem is he doesn't talk about it. So it's almost impossible to figure out what state of mind he's in. But judging from his behaviour lately…" Johnson's voice trailed off, but ending the sentence wasn't necessary, anyway.

Lilly nodded. "Well, that explains a lot." There were a few minutes of silence before Lilly turned to Agent Johnson again: "You're quite fond of him, aren't you?"

Johnson smiled. "He can be the sweetest guy in the world. Once you gained his friendship."

"So, I guess I should make the effort to get to know him better", Lilly said, smiling back.

"Yeah. And you can start right now." Following the direction Johnson was looking Lilly saw Taylor who was hurrying down the corridor towards them.


	7. Chapter 7

Hey, thanks for your reviews, I love you guys! Keep 'em comin'; in return I'll write as much as I can!

VII.

Lilly approached Danny hesitantly, but when he saw her he came straight up to her, looking as uncomfortable as she felt.

"Hey", she said.

"Hey", he answered.

Silence – until they both started speaking at the same time:

"Listen, I just wanted to…"

"You were right before, I…"

Realising that this would not work out they just stared each other, then Danny said: "You first."

Lilly wanted to protest, but he repeated, more persistently: "_You first_!"

Lilly sighed. "Okay, well, I just… uh… wanted to apologize for my behaviour earlier. I mean, _some_ things of what I said, I really _meant_. But I shouldn't have used that tone and…"

"It's fine", he replied, interrupting her. "I guess you were right. I wasn't focused on the case. Well, I was, but just partly. And I wasn't prepared. Jack – my boss; _Agent Malone_ – he gave me the Bradfort file yesterday, but I didn't look into it once, which I _should have, _considering that I couldn't remember much of what was in it… I'm sorry 'bout that. I know it was unprofessional."

Lilly couldn't help but grin. "We are quite a pair, aren't we?"

Danny just nodded.

Another moment of silence and it was getting uncomfortable as now they were totally focused on each other, each looking the other one straight in the eyes, not knowing what to say. It was awfully quiet _around_ them, too… or maybe Lilly just didn't hear the people around them, as she was too captivated by those deep brown eyes…

_Deep brown eyes…? – where the hell did you get _that_ from, Rush?_

Realising that she would have to regain control over the situation as quickly as possible, Lilly turned her head. "Look, we should get going. We've got lots to do."

"Yeah", Danny agreed.

Did she _imagine_ it, or did he sound a bit _disappointed_? Shaking her head at herself Lilly walked over towards the fax machine to check if there was any news from Scotty. She had asked him earlier for old photos of both, Amy Bradfort and Dina Larstrom, and also for information that could hint to a possible accomplice.

Danny, though, remained standing where he was. "Hey – _Rush_?"

"My name's Lilly", she said without looking back.

"Yeah, maybe… but I prefer to call you _Rush_. Suits you better…"

Now she didn't _have to_ look – to know that he was grinning. "What is it, _Taylor_?"

"You got anything to do for me? Because I really have no idea, which way you want this investigation to go."

"I thought you called yourself _Special Agent_?" Lilly would have never admitted it to anyone, but the teasing was fun. Maybe Johnson was right, maybe Danny wasn't so bad, after all. Maybe she would really just have to get to know him better.

"Yes, but not a very good one, I suppose…" He sounded amused, too.

"Well, I assume, you're doing your best. That should do… besides," her voice became more serious as she continued without thinking, "after what you've been through, I guess, anybody would be a little… uh… shaken up. At least, now I understand what that conversation with your boss was all about."

The moment she realised what she had said Lilly knew it had been a mistake.

"_What I've been through_? What do you mean _what I've been through_?"

"Well that incident… with your partner… or your friend… What was his name? Martin?"

"Who told you about that?" The amusement was gone, there was obvious irritation in Danny's voice now.

Cursing herself Lilly wondered what to tell him. She knew they couldn't _afford_ letting this turn into yet _another_ argument, and being honest, she didn't _want_ that, either. How could she have been so stupid as to mention it? The fact that Danny hadn't told her himself – well, there had to have been a reason for that…

_Damn it, Rush!_

But obviously Danny also wasn't up for another argument, either, because he changed the subject. "Never mind. I can figure it out myself, anyway. Actually, I'm already pretty sure I know who told you. So let's just not talk about it and just get the work done."

Lilly nodded. Not knowing what else she should do, she went through the faxes and started to sum up: "Well, we got two old photos; one of Amy, one of Dina, and I have to admit they're looking very much alike. Now, assuming that Dina could have murdered Amy – fourteen years ago – and have taken up her identity, we need to have the old pictures compared with the newer one of _'Amy'_, the one in your file. Then we'll have to make a few calls, see if we can get information on Amy's medical history before 1991 and finally…" she paused, looking for the picture Scotty had sent, then holding it up after finding it, "we'll have to have a chat with this sympathetic guy…"

Danny studied the photo for a moment. "Who's that?"

"Olof Benson. Former detective with the Philadelphia Police, until he had to quit in 1992, after repeatedly being accused of corruption. It was never proven, though. I guess it was his reputation that cost him his job. Anyways, he was the first one the scene after Dina's suicide in 1991, and he identified the body. _And_ – he used to be Amy Bradfort's boyfriend!"

"Does he live in New York, now?"

"Yeah, as far as my guys back in Philly could find out, he moved here just after he had quit from his job."

"Okay, let's get started then." Danny's voice didn't exactly sound unenthusiastic, but his good mood was gone. At least for now. That much was obvious.

_Damn it, Rush!_

………………

Vivian answered her phone after the first ring. "Johnson."

The voice on the other end of the line was low, unfamiliarly weak. "Viv?"

"Martin!" For a moment she was taken aback. Not wanting to intrude, she hadn't called him yet, since the shooting, just had asked either Samantha or Jack for news on him or had sent her regards through them. Hearing his voice now, shocked her a bit. But, of course, Vivian, being Vivian, was able to hide it. "How _are_ you?"

"Been better", he admitted and she smiled. "Just very busy, you know; physiotherapy, doctor's appointments… it's great! What 'bout you?" He sounded sarcastic, but to Vivian it was good news; after all, he hadn't totally lost his sense of humour.

"Oh, I'm okay… back to work…" she informed him.

"Yeah, I know. Sam told me."

There was a long pause.

"Martin?"

"Huh?"

"You still there?"

"Yeah…"

"Was that the reason why you called? To ask how I was?"

"No. Well – yeah… of course… I wanted to know how you are, but… to be quite honest, it wasn't the only reason."

"No problem. I thought so. So… how can I help you?"

"Well, I was wondering…"

Another pause.

"… I was wondering, maybe you could tell me, how Danny's doing…"

Not surprised now, Vivian sighed, but made sure that Martin wouldn't hear it. She had expected this, had actually waited for this call to come, since she'd been back to work. However, no matter how often she'd thought about it, she still had no idea what to tell Martin.

"Sam keeps telling me he's fine and not to worry, but… I don't know… – Viv, I think he's avoiding me. Why would he do that, if he's _really_ fine?"

"Martin, I think you _really_ shouldn't worry about that. Just focus on getting better and once you're back here… – by the way, when _will_ you be back?"

"Oh, um, doctors say, it's gonna be at least two weeks, but _I think_ I may get well fast enough to come back next week. But you're changing the subject, Viv."

She sighed again, this time loud enough for him to hear. "Martin, I…"

"C'mon, Viv!" His voice sounded more persistent now. "You gotta know. I mean, he confides in you, doesn't he?"

_Hardly_, Vivian thought, deciding to tell Martin the truth. "Not really." _Not at all_, she thought then, being honest to herself. "I'm really sorry, Marty, but I don't know much about how he's doing."

"Just tell me, _what_ you know then…"

"Okay…"

"And Viv?"

"Yeah?"

"Be honest with me, please."

"Okay, but I _really_ don't want you to worry too much about it."

"I won't."

"Promise?"

When Martin answered Vivian could hear from the way his voice sounded that he was smiling. "Yes, I promise."

"Right then. I think, quite honestly, that Danny's not over it, yet. He's doing fine physically, though. But it seems that he's not sleeping well, maybe he's getting nightmares, I don't know. He's not telling me, but think there may have been a few… I also think he's not eating much. That's what worries me a bit. And he keep's pissing Jack off."

"I gathered that from what Jack said. He called me yesterday, you know. When I asked him about Danny he just said, he was being argumentative, but it wasn't too unusual, because he can get like that when he's stressed and…"

"Martin, dear, listen to me: I want you to hang up now, don't worry and go back to rest. Don't think about Danny; he'll be okay and we're there for him. And we'll be here for you as well, okay? And don't put yourself under pressure and think you'll have to be back in a week. Take as much time to recover as you need. Of course, we're all looking forward to have you back, though…"

"All except one…" Martin's voice tailed off. He sounded sad and she almost regretted saying anything.

"Martin…"

"It's okay, Viv, I understood what you said. Thanks, though…"

Vivian had wanted to say something more, but Martin had already hung up. She felt bad. Maybe she shouldn't have told him? But then again, he wouldn't have let go until she had.

_But why is it making me feel so bad? _

Should she have lied to him? _No, he would have known…_

………………

When Danny returned to his desk after running through the building, busily, for a little over an hour he found Lilly sitting in his chair, using his telephone and seemingly feeling quite at home. He couldn't help but grin, and he was still grinning when she noticed him and motioned for him to wait a moment until she'd finished her call.

Finally she hung up and looked at him, triumphantly. "There", she said. "Just got off the phone with Amy Bradfort's former doctor in Philadelphia. She was her patient until 1991, and she said that in 1989 Amy was admitted to hospital because of a broken collar bone!"

"Well, that fits", Danny said, waving the photos at her. "Got the results of the facial-recognition programme; Our _Amy Bradfort_ is your _Dina Larstrom_. So… I assume… in the grave of Mrs Larstrom your guys actually found… the real Miss Bradfort! Oh – and I found Mr. Benson. He _does_ live in New York, now. I'm having him brought in."

As if on command his phone rang.

"Taylor."

He listened to the voice on the other end then hung up and turned to Lilly, waggling his eyebrows. "Wanna meet that Mr. Benson?"

"He's here?" Lilly sounded surprised.

"Yup."

"That was quick."

"Yeah, you see, I'm not always as incapable as you've come to know me…"

Now she smiled. "Okay, let's go then."

………………

Olof Benson was fifty years old, bold and, despite being slightly shorter, he seemed about twice Danny's size; not only was he very muscular, but had quite a paunch as well. He was sitting in the interrogation room with obvious impatience and scowled at Danny and Lilly when they entered.

"I'm not saying a word until my lawyer gets here", he growled.

"Well, that sounds like somebody feels guilty, doesn't it?" Danny said in his cockiest voice and took a seat opposite Mr. Benson. He wasn't the least bit impressed by the man; neither by his physical appearance nor his attitude. He just opened his notebook and began to wait for said lawyer.

Benson's lawyer – who was the exact opposite of his client; small and haggard, looking ridiculously tiny next to Benson himself – arrived five minutes later – five minutes that had been spent by the three people in the room in complete silence.

"Albert Finn", the lawyer introduced himself and took a seat as well. He eyed first Lilly and then Danny suspiciously before finally asking: "What have you got on my client?"

Danny didn't answer him but turned directly towards Benson: "You either _murdered_ Mrs. Amy Bradfort or you _know_ who did it."

Benson remained silent, but was still scowling, while his lawyer, Albert Finn, spoke for him: "My client doesn't know anybody by the name of Amy Bradfort."

Now, with a snort, Lilly meddled in. "Please! We've have a neighbourhood of witnesses back in Philadelphia who know Mr. Benson was once Miss Amy Bradfort's boyfriend and who would be willing to testify at any time."

"My client is not saying anything", Finn now said, giving Benson a glance.

Danny sighed. "That's not necessary, anyways. _We know_ that you not only knew Amy Bradfort and had some kind of relationship with her, you also don't have an alibi for the night of her death and _you_ were the one who identified her body as Amy's best friend Dina Larstrom's. So… we assume that either you or Miss Larstrom have killed Miss Bradfort. And since Dina isn't here now…"

"Mr. Benson, you've worked in law inforcement yourself", Lilly said now, looking at the man with a serious expression. "You have to know you're looking at a very long time."

"Although it might help to tell us the truth. _Now_!" Danny added, raising his voice slightly.

Now Benson gave a grunt, shook his head and finally growled: "I want a deal."

"Well, there isn't much of a deal we could offer you", Danny replied. "But if you're willing to confess, we'll see what we can do."

Benson sighed. "I didn't kill her. Dina did it. Dina Larstrom. Just like you just said."

"And where can we find Dina Larstrom?" Lilly inquired.

"I don't know."

Feeling his patient wear out Danny shook his head. "You're not expecting us to believe you, right?"

Benson shrugged. "It's the truth. I have _no idea_, where Dina is."


	8. Chapter 8

VIII.

Sam took a look at her watch before burying her hands in her pockets. 2 p.m. – late for a lunch break, but the good thing about days, when there weren't any hot cases, was that at least she _had_ a real lunch break. And knowing Jack she guessed he wouldn't be mad if she stretched the break a little longer than she was actually supposed to – after all, she had probably worked about a _hundred_ hours overtime since Martin had been shot – having a replacement on the team or not.

It wasn't raining when she walked out of the FBI-headquarters but there was an unusually strong wind blowing between the huge buildings of the city, making it very clear that summer for this year was over.

Sam was lost in thoughts; autumn was always making her a little melancholic. She didn't mind, though, as long as it didn't get too much…

When she walked past McDonald's she suddenly noticed how hungry she was, which shouldn't be a surprise since she hadn't eaten anything all day. With a sigh she pushed the door opened and almost bumped into a group of people that looked – and _sounded_ – suspiciously like German tourists. As she made her way past them she tried to decide what to have for lunch. She had long given up on trying to avoid junk food, especially since her times with Martin, who had seemed to live of that stuff only.

Before she could help it her mind wandered back to the times when she'd first joined Jack Malone's team, the first six months – before that _stupid_ affair she'd had with her boss, a mistake she regretted painfully on some days, but still couldn't help clinging to on others – before that affair, on days like these, she would usually go to lunch with Danny.

Sam smiled at the memory of thinking he was trying to pull, when he'd asked her if she wanted to join him for lunch on her second day with the team. Very quickly, though, she had realised, that that wasn't the case at all.

Of course, he would flirt with her, easily able to make her feel special around him, even more so since she knew there were more than enough women who would have given anything to be in her place when they flirted. He had never tried anything else, though, and since Sam had had feelings for _Jack_ from the beginning, she had easily managed to build up a solid friendship with Danny, not too close, but close enough to know he'd always be there for her if she needed him.

Sam finished the last bite of her hamburger, than made to leave. Outside it had started to rain again, just a bit, but enough to make her mood change from melancholic to miserable. She was tired, too. After all, she hadn't slept well.

A shop window caught her attention; it displayed the most beautiful dress Sam had seen in a while. Way too expensive of course, but still Sam entered the shop. She was going to try it on, anyways, maybe that would brighten up her mood.

Of course, she looked beautiful in it – or so the shop assistant said, no; _shouted_!

Sam smiled and shook her head. "I'll come again tomorrow with my boyfriend", she told the disappointed young woman and walked back out into the rain.

_Yeah, right_. _Your_ _boyfriend_.

Of course she didn't have a boyfriend, which was, probably, because every time she met someone decent she would always screw it up. Like she had with _Eric Keller_. _Martin_. Not to even _mention_ Jack.

It was time to get back to the office, Sam suddenly noticed. And she didn't mind because the rain was getting worse again. On the way back she walked past _Angela's, _the place Danny had taken her to on that first time they'd had lunch together. She had liked it, and he'd taken her there again. They would take turns at buying each other lunch. Sam sighed – they hadn't done that in a while. In fact they hadn't done that in _years_. The affair with Jack had gotten in the way, and afterwards Sam had intensified her friendship with Viv looking for someone she could confide in after that fizzled _what-ever-it-was_ she had had with her boss.

_But what about Danny?_

After their fight that morning Sam had asked herself a hundred times all morning if maybe she'd been unfair. After all, she was used to him being there for her, and she'd expected him to be there for Martin as well. But she had never really thought about how he might feel; about Martin, about the shooting – about _all of it_ actually.

_Maybe she'd just taken his friendship for granted?_

The thought had hit her hard, when she'd left the office walking past Danny's desk. He hadn't seen her, had been too caught up in his conversation with the blond woman. What was her name? Sam couldn't remember. All she knew was that when she'd seen the two of them she had suddenly felt very bad.

_Jealous, maybe? _

_Of course not!_

_Really, Samantha?_

She was not _in love_ with Danny or anything – they had known each other for way too long and had developed a more brother-and-sister-like kind of relationship and he also wasn't the type of guy she would want to be with. Yet, in his own way he _was_ sweet nonetheless, and good-looking as well and she couldn't deny that she had always, secretly, enjoyed the fact that, at work, she was the only one he would sometimes flirt with.

She knew, of course, that outside work there were more than enough women in his life – although she was sure that none of them lasted too long – but at the office she was the only _pretty single_ woman around him, the only one who would get _compliments_ from him, and she wanted it that way.

_All just for her own damn self-esteem. _

Suddenly Sam felt ashamed. How could she have expected Danny to be always there for her – and everybody else – when she had never wasted a thought on how _he_ was feeling? Or what he might _want_? Quickening up her pace she made her mind up to apologize for her behaviour that morning and maybe try and find out how he was really doing these days. If she couldn't keep a relationship going, at least she may be able to keep a friendship.

………………

Danny was frustrated. He and Lilly had discussed the case over and over again, had checked every bit of information they been able to get on Olof Benson, they had studied the file on _Amy Bradfort_ – who as they now knew had been _Dina Larstrom_, all the time.

They kept running into dead ends, and despite being aware of how childish it was Danny just wanted to rip the whole file into pieces and throw them away.

The conversation between him and Lilly had died a few minutes ago, none of them feeling much more motivation, and both fed up and lost in thoughts for a while.

A well-known voice finally pulled Danny back to the present. "Have you two been working all the time?"

He looked up to find Sam staring back at him, seemingly amazed by their industry.

"We're… kinda havin' a break right now…" he finally answered.

"Good." Sam turned to go, hesitated and, suddenly, she appeared to get a little nervous.

"Danny?"

"Yeah…"

"Can I speak to you for a moment?" Sam asked the question he had been waiting for. He had actually dreaded it, but there was nothing he could do, because Sam shot Lilly a meaningful glance and before Danny could say or do anything to hold her back, the other woman excused herself – "Need to use the toilette, anyway…" – and left.

Danny sighed. "What is it, Sam?"

"I… uh… just wanted to say I'm sorry. For this morning, you know… I…"

"No need to be sorry", Danny cut her off, not wanting to delve into this conversation.

"No, there is. Because I was just so _mad_ at you because I couldn't think of any reason why you would abandon Martin the way you did…"

"_Sam_…"

"… but now I think it's because you're suffering from the shock of the ambush as well and…"

"Sam, it's _enough_." Danny had laid his hand on his forehead as if he was annoyed, hiding his eyes in the process. He didn't want to get all emotional with Sam around, but he couldn't help being touched by what she said. "It's okay, really. You were right, actually."

"But…"

_Okay, now or never Taylor. She's not gonna let go._

"Sam, the thing is…" He hesitated. Then, after taking a deep breath he finally spoke, so fast he wasn't even sure she would understand him: "You know… I hate to tell you this but I just keep asking myself if maybe I could have done better and could have kept Martin from… being shot… and I need to _get_ _rid_ of these thoughts, and I won't, seeing how bad he's doing which is why I haven't visited him lately. – And let's not talk about this anymore. You think you can do that?"

"Sure", Sam replied in a small voice.

"Fine. Now, I've got work to do." Turning his back on her, Danny started to rummage through the paper sheets on his desk again, pretending to suddenly be very busy.

But Sam wasn't quite done. "You know, he doesn't blame you, Danny, don't you?"

_Why can't she just leave?_

"Yeah", he managed to reply. He didn't look at her, though, hoping for her to think it was just because he was trying to make it clear the conversation was over, but the real reason he avoided her eyes was that he was, indeed, getting emotional; a lump forming in his throat and he could even feel his _damn_ _eyes getting wet_!

Danny had often cursed his tendency to get emotional, although deep down he knew it was what had probably kept him on the right track during his life. If he hadn't always felt so intensively about everything – no matter if _good_ or _bad_ feelings – he knew he may have ended up like his brother; too dull to differ right from wrong. He had, still, tried to kill a lot of these feelings during his youth, had tried for years, actually, to suffocate them with alcohol and excess partying and sex. It hadn't really worked, but _that_ was _exactly_ why he was here now, instead of where he could be; in jail, like his brother or maybe even dead. Danny knew that and was grateful for it.

A voice pulled Danny back to the present: "She one of your co-workers?"

Lilly was back, and, swallowing that lump in his throat, Danny hurried to regain his composure before turning to face her.

"Yeah, we usually work on the same team."

"How many of you all together?"

"Five."

"Martin, too?"

"Yes."

There was silence, then Lilly said: "She's pretty."

Now Danny grinned. "Is she? Hadn't noticed."

"Yeah, right", Lilly said, but smiled.

_What's happened with her?_

Happy to have something positive to think about, Danny began asking himself if maybe Lilly was totally the opposite of what he had thought of her before. In fact, she seemed quite nice, now. Nothing left of that cold, inapproachable manner she'd shown him at the beginning.

He wanted to say some more, maybe even flirt a bit – he could damn well use a little flirt to brighten up his mood – but she seemed to guess what he was up to and with the words "_Don't even try_!" she quickly shoved the case material in his direction again.

Danny sighed. "Okay, here we go – _again_."

They had spread all three of the pictures over his desk; the two older ones and the newer one of Dina _alias_ Amy. They had also written a timeline like Jack usually did on the whiteboard, only they had used a clean sheet of paper for it. Danny noticed the timeline started only four months ago, when he and the team had started their investigation on Amy's – _no, Dina's for fuck's sake, Taylor, concentrate!_ – disappearance.

"What about we start at the beginning?"

Lilly looked confused. "What do you mean?"

"Let's start at the very beginning – _before_ Dina became Amy – and establish a complete timeline from back then until now."

"Okay… so we start…" Rummaging through her own notes Lilly found the information she was looking for. "Here it is; we start in 1985, when Dina Larstrom and her husband Ole Larstrom move in next to Amy Bradfort. – You got that? Good. So, over the next six years the two woman get close friends and Dina starts to copy Amy – or that's what Amy's mothers thinks."

"Yes", Danny nodded in agreement. "So, when Dina's husband Ole dies…"

"… and leaves her behind with a huge amount of debt, according her suicide note…"

"…she suddenly decides it's time to take over Amy's life because Amy's wealthy and after her husband's death there nothing to hold Dina back."

"Correct. Scotty says everybody they asked about Dina said, she didn't have many friends, nor did she have any family, either. Just her husband's family but they live in Sweden so there wasn't much contact with them, either." Lilly paused, waiting for Danny to finish writing everything down and continue with their story:

"So my guess is that Dina murdered Amy, then made sure she wouldn't be seen for the rest of the weekend, maybe skipped town or something, and left the rest to Benson. When she returns the two of them arrange the funeral and since Amy and Dina were known as best friend and Dina didn't have anybody else, nobody asks any questions. However, Dina does make one little mistake by letting herself be seen in that supermarket _before_ she was due back in Philly."

"Yes, but she had it all planned well enough it almost worked out perfectly", Lilly pointed out.

Danny nodded. "So, after all this, I suppose Dina pays Benson for his help – who's only interest in Amy was probably just the money anyway – and then she moves to New York in…?"

"1991."

"Okay. So… she moves around a bit until she finally settles down next to Mrs Guerin in 1995. The two of them become friends, but apart from that there's not much happening in Dina's life until four months ago."

"And that's when the other timeline starts; she was last seen on the morning of that day she went missing. It was Monday but she didn't go to work that day, so around noon her boss reports her missing. Her neighbour, Linda Guerin claims to have seen her around eight a.m. that _same day_, but she has no idea what she's been doing on the weekend. You guys get involve but you're not able to fill that blank since nobody has seen her on Saturday or Sunday. Doesn't seem usual, though, since she's always been a bit lonely according to her neighbour", Lilly ended the story, staring at the paper Danny had written on. Then she lifted her head to stare at Danny. "You know what annoys me?"

He didn't say anything just raised his eyebrows, questioningly.

"The fact that Benson could help so little. The problem is he really seems to have told us the truth about not having heard of Dina since she went missing."

"From the looks of it he hasn't heard from her since 1991. It's obviously just coincidence he is here in New York now, too." Danny shook his head and directed his attention towards the photos of the two women again. "No, he's not the answer to this. I have a feeling, though, that we might be closer to it than we think."

"That so?" There was more amusement in Lilly's voice than genuine interest. At least that was how it sounded, especially since Danny suddenly noticed he had pinned his tongue between his lips as he was concentrated on thinking and therefore probably didn't look like he could be taken seriously. He corrected that quickly, pressing his lips to together now with his tongue _inside_ his mouth when – suddenly – it came to him.

"That's it!"

_How could we have been so blind?_

"What?"

Slamming his fist onto the desk so hard it hurt he exclaimed the name: "_Linda Guerin_!"


	9. Chapter 9

IX.

Lilly found it hard to believe that Danny was serious. "You don't mean…?"

"Yup, I do." He was fully alert now, nodding to fortify what he was saying.

"She did it _again_?" Still Lilly couldn't keep the disbelief from her voice.

"It worked once, so why not again? And Mrs Guerin and her looked a bit alike, just like Amy and her look alike. That's probably why she moved in next to the Guerins and stayed there. Until she got the chance." Danny was still nodding.

"Yeah, but… we _spoke_ to Mrs Guerin! How come, we didn't recognise her the very moment we first saw her? After all, both of us knew what Dina looked like."

Danny shrugged and interrupted his nodding to shake his head. "I have no idea. Make-up, maybe. Or a new hair-do –_ can work wonders_… – Or plastic surgery maybe?"

"_That's_ impossible. Even if she _had_ plastic surgery during the last for month, you guys should have recognised her when you spoke with her the first time. There is _no_ way she could have had that done on the one weekend!"

"I still think I'm on the right track. See, it would also explain why the house was decorated completely differently. I noticed that yesterday: Amy moved in and had it all done in her own style. At first I put it down as being a sign of Mrs Guerin trying to get over her husband's death – but it just looked _so unlike_ its former style."

"Maybe Mrs Guerin had always had the house decorated the way her husband wanted it", Lilly suggested half-heartedly. She was beginning to accept that fact that Danny had made his mind up and was not going to be convinced otherwise.

And she was right; still, Danny obviously couldn't resist the urge to tease a bit: "_Please_, since when do women ask their men how _they_ would like their house to be decorated?"

"Since when do men have interest in that?" Lilly replied.

"See? That's what I think. I am _telling_ you, the woman we spoke to yesterday was nobody else but the _poor_ Dina Larstrom who was supposed to have killed herself more than ten years ago!"

"And how are we gonna prove that?" Still Lilly didn't feel infected with Danny's enthusiasm.

"Maybe…" he said, waggling his eyebrows, "…we need to find the _real_ Mrs Guerin."

"Ugh", Lilly commented. This case was… queer. Having spoken to a woman that should have been dead for ten years… this didn't exactly please her. Added to that there were two murders, commit by that same person. She was like an evil ghost. It almost made Lilly shudder and she hurried to become objective again. "So, who gave you that photo of Amy? Was that Mrs Guerin, too? Or did you find it in Amy's house?"

"_Dina_, Detective. We're talking about _Dina_."

"You understood me quite right, _Danny_."

"However… Yeah, Mrs Guerin gave us the photo. I even remember thinking how she reminded me of Amy."

"Dina."

"Well, back _then_ I thought it was _Amy_."

"She gave you a photo of herself and looked you straight in the eye saying she had no idea where _she_ was? That's _crazy_!"

"This woman _is_ crazy, Lilly."

Lilly liked the way he said her name. He hadn't ever called her _Lilly_ before but it sounded nice. But not nice enough to distract her from the case: "Um… so you suggest what?"

"Let's get information on Mrs Guerin, especially everything we can find since Amy Bradfort was reported missing. Maybe we can figure out were Dina… uh… hid the body of the real Mrs Guerin. And how she managed to transform into her neighbour again."

………………

"Hey, Lilly, look at this!"

It was two hours later and Lilly's head was aching and her stomach was so empty it was almost hurting. They had been so busy they had forgotten all about having lunch and she knew she would need something to eat quickly before she would start to feel light-headed.

"What have you got?" she asked, rubbing her forehead lightly.

"The Guerins owned a boat which they used to keep in a boat-house down by the river which…" he made a short, dramatic pause, "…_they also own_. Maybe that is where we would find Mrs Guerin, the First."

"Ah boat-house? How cliché…"

Danny grinned. "You ever watched the 'The Client'?"

"As a matter of fact I did. So, shall we send somebody down to that shed to check it out?"

"Nah, we'll check it out ourselves."

Lilly couldn't have said why but somehow she had expected him to say that. It was as if she had known Danny for longer than just one day (and it was more or less _exactly_ twenty-four hours now because it was five p.m. Oh – and she hadn't had lunch yet!)

"Never let anybody else do the work you can do better yourself", Danny told her, as if _that_ would be a comfort.

Lilly sighed, loud enough even to drown out the rumbling of her hungry stomach. "Okay then, but it'll have to wait a few minutes so I can get myself a chocolate bar from that vending machines you said you had in this building somewhere…"

"Basement. Go ahead, I'll get the car. Meet you outside in five."

"You want anything?"

"Yeah."

"What?"

"Don't know. Just get me something."

Lilly nodded and they hurried each their own way.

Of course it took Lilly more than five minutes to get all the way down to the basement and then outsmart the stupid vending machines that did not seem willing to accept her money. When she finally got into the car next to Danny he had already been awaiting her impatiently.

"What took you so long?"

"Sorry…"

Danny drove fast and since there wasn't much to say Lilly leaned back in the passenger seat closing her eyes for a moment. She hoped that this case was going to be over soon and she would be able to get back to Philadelphia. This visit to New York hadn't exactly improved her opinion on the city. And the case made her feel uncomfortable.

She missed her home with her own bed – the one night at the motel had been to most uncomfortable she had had in a while – but even more than that she missed her cats and she really hoped her neighbour had taken good care of them. _Oh, come on, Lil_, she told herself. _Just one night, and they're only cats! _

Nonetheless she missed them.

Opening her eyes again she shot a glance over to Danny who, of course, noticed it and smiled. "You alright?" he asked in a sympathetic voice.

"Yes. Sure. Just not feeling like searching a dirty old shed."

"Who would?"

"Yeah…"

"Let's get over with this"; Danny said, turned right and drove down a street that Lily noticed was leading towards the river. They found a place where there were a few smaller private boat-sheds and after checking the numbers that were pinned to the doors they quickly found the right one. Much to their surprise the door was closed but unlocked. Even if there was no dead body hidden in there, Lilly would have expected the shed to be locked. Looking over at Danny she could see from his face that he was thinking the same.

He had put his index finger across his lips and they both listened closely but there was no noise inside. Still, they drew their guns, ready to storm inside. Danny kicked the door open and Lilly listened to his compulsory "Freeze! FBI!"

It seemed needless a moment later, when they saw the shed was empty. But somebody had been there. In fact, what she saw suddenly _did_ remind Lilly of the movie Danny had mentioned earlier; 'The Client' a film where an in her opinion extraordinarily stupid Mafioso (alias _Anthony LaPaglia_, as far as she could recall), murdered a man and hid the body in his lawyers boat-shed. She had never liked the movie.

But the scene in front of her eyes did indeed look as if somebody had hidden something in _this_ shed, too. _And_ had decided to remove it. Only… he or most likely _she_ must have been interrupted… The wooden floor had been partly torn off and a small hole had been dug.

_Oh God, what if she is still around?_

A strange feeling overcame Lilly. As if they weren't alone in the shed.

She hadn't even finished the thought, when she saw the shadow above her head. Then everything happened very quickly. A body jumped towards her from somewhere and the next moment she felt the knock on her head then everything went black.

………………

If he would have had the time Danny would have cursed himself for his stupidity. He had scanned through the shed but hadn't checked _inside_ the boat which was on the hanger. He only noticed the other man when he left his shelter and started his sudden flight.

In his surprise Danny was frozen for a split second watching then man knock Lilly over. He even managed to hit Danny hard enough to kick the gun out of his hand. Then the guy ran off the moment Danny's senses came back to life.

It was pure instinct that made him go after the man without bothering to pick up his gun. If he would have had the time to think it through probably he would have acted differently but in this moment he just ran.

Still, there was a good chance he would catch the guy. He was fast and also he was quite sure his opponent was unarmed. If the man would have had a weapon he would have surely used it. Instead he was running down the street by the river – with no chance to escape, though. He hadn't gotten very far when Danny had come close enough to try to tackle him.

Unfortunately the man was stronger than Danny had expected and not willing to give up easily. Instead he fought at his best to get out of Danny's grip causing the two men roll over the ground like scuffling boys.

In the end, though, Danny managed to hand-cuff him – only, in his attempted to fight back the guy had _managed_ to get them close enough to the riverside to fall over the edge into the water – and pull Danny along with him.

………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Author's notes: Couldn't resist that _Anthony LaPaglia_ anecdote… But it's the truth. Have you seen the movie? If not, you really should! You won't recognise our _good old Jack_… ;-)


	10. Chapter 10

X.

The water felt so cold it took Danny's breath away and for a moment he thought was going to freeze to death before he realised that the water was, of course, not that cold. It was only September and the summer sun had warmed it up for months. Also, he was running high on adrenaline and therefore he soon forgot about the cold or, maybe, his body had adjusted to it.

The good thing about being in the water was that his opponent did no longer fight. Obviously the man had figured that with his hands cuffed behind his back he had more of a chance to survive this if he let himself be pulled to the nearest bridge by Danny.

But that was piece of hard work as the riptide was working against them. Danny had never been good as a lifeguard but there was no way he was going to un-cuff the other man's hands. And so he struggled against the water, pulling the guy with him and feeling a sudden relief when he saw the figure on the bridge. He had felt guilty about leaving Lilly behind the way she had been but then again, this little excursion into the Hudson hadn't been planned.

He could _see_ that Lilly shouting something but couldn't understand the words. All he heard was his own breathing, the other man's panting and the roaring water around them.

Only when he got closer he could hear what Lilly was saying: "Hurry up, we need to get you out of there!"

_What the hell do you think I'm doing? Enjoying a nice afternoon swim?_

He reached the bridge and in order to climb up he had to get rid of his unmoving load. Using the handcuffs to hook the man's arm to the bridge strut he finally made a weak attempt to get out of the water.

Before he knew it a small female hand gripped his arm tightly a started to pull with an unexpected force.

Moments – which felt like hours – later he was finally standing on the bridge, bent over with his hands propped on his knees, still panting. His wet clothes were sticking to his body uncomfortably and the cool wind was making him shiver. Once his breathing had evened he straightened up to look back at Lilly who had been watching him the whole time. "How're you doing?" he asked her.

"I'm okay", she said, quickly. "I got a little head-ache but that's all."

"That's all, huh? You better get that checked out by a doctor."

Lilly shook her head. "First we need to get the man out of the water. And then I think you need call your boss."

"My cell phone is in there", Danny replied pointing towards the dark grey water. "And I really don't feel like diving in again.

………………

Sitting in the passenger seat of Danny's car and pressing the cooling ice-bag to the spot the guy had hit her Lilly watched the scene in front of her with half-closed eyes. It had been a while since she and Danny had pulled the man out of the water. Afterwards Lilly given Danny her cell phone – for his was lost – and he had called Agent Malone, the local police and an ambulance. Soon there were more people around than she could bear so – after a short examination by a paramedic – she had sat herself in the car, nursing her still slightly aching head.

Danny was on the phone, talking to Malone again and from the way he was pacing up and down the street she could tell he was angry. Finally he came to the car opened the door and leaned in. "You better?" he asked. He was obviously still worried about the bump on the head Lilly had received.

"Yes, there's nothing to worry about. I just got checked out by a medic."

"You sure you don't want to go to the hospital?"

"Positively. – Now can we leave here?"

"But…"

"Danny… I thought your boss says the NYPD can handle this until we know _who_ the man is and what relevance he has to our case."

"Yeah, right, _my boss says_. My _boss_ says I gotta be in his office tomorrow morning at eight o'clock sharp – only so I can listen to a two-hour lecture about not having informed him on this before."

Lilly smiled a half-hearted smile. "You _should_ have informed him _before we came here_."

"Not you, too", Danny said grumpily.

Grinning now, Lilly got out of the passenger seat and held out her hand, palm turned up.

"Come on", she said, sympathetically. "Let's get you home. You need to get out of those wet clothes."

Danny stared at her hand, confused. "What do you want?"

"The keys. I'm driving."

"You just got knocked unconscious…"

"I said I'm okay…"

"It's _my_ car."

Shaking her head Lilly remained adamant. "Danny, look… you can't stop shivering; I don't want to see you holding the steering wheel. I'm driving."

With a sigh of surrender Danny handed her the keys and let her walk past him so she could get to the driver's side of the car and into it. Eager to get away from this place she started the engine and drove off quickly, letting Danny give her directions.

He had wanted to get back to the office at first but she hadn't needed much time to convince him to go home. All his adrenaline was spent by now and he seemed to have started to feel the effects not only of his dunking into the Hudson River but a whole eventful and tiring day.

Once outside his building she parked the car and they both got out.

"Why don't you wait inside while I get changed quickly and then I'll give you a ride back to that motel", Danny suggested. He had crossed his arms in front of his chest, pressing them close to his body, still shaking in the cool evening wind.

Not wanting to object Lilly just nodded. She was feeling her own exhaustion very well by now, and despite the chocolate bar she had had earlier her stomach was grumbling again, loudly. So she followed Danny into the building and – a few long minutes in the old lift later – into his apartment.

It was a small place, smaller than she would have expected it to be. Very little decoration as well, she noticed. Sitting herself on his also small sofa she watched Danny disappear into the next room. Moments later there was a sounded like a shower being turned on. Lilly sighed. _A shower… yeah, sounds good... _Back at home. In her own bathroom. Just her and the lovely hot water…

She only realised she had been half-asleep when Danny's voice pulled her back. "You want me to drive you home now?" He had changed into a pair of loose-fitting jeans and a sweater and although it wasn't much of an outfit Lilly couldn't help thinking it looked good on him, as much as his usual suit and tie did.

She must have been staring at him because suddenly he grinned. "Yeah, I know. I usually don't leave the apartment like this but I don't think there will be a lot of people seeing me if I get into the car quickly."

Smiling back Lilly rose from the couch, wordlessly.

………………

During the drive back to the motel Lilly's stomach grumbled again, loudly reminding her of her missed-out lunch. "Is there a place we can get some decent takeaway food?" she asked.

"Sure. Lots of 'em…"

"Would you mind…?"

"No, I'm starving, too."

"You want something, too?"

He shrugged. "Yeah… just forgot my money… Gotta give it back to you tomorrow."

"You don't have to…"

"Yeah, I do", he persisted and pulled over to the side of the road.

Lilly got out of the car and realised she was standing in front of a Chinese restaurant. That was okay with her and she walked inside. It took a while until she had gotten the food, paid and was sitting in the car again. They reached the motel much too quickly for her liking and she felt a little reluctant to get out oft the car.

"Here we are", Danny commented. "So… I guess I'll see you in the morning."

Without thinking Lilly asked: "You want to come inside and have your dinner there with me?" Realising what she had said she cursed herself. And as there was no reaction from him at first she started to feel embarrassed. What would he be thinking of her now?

But then Danny smiled and said: "If you're not tired of my company yet…"

_Oh please, you know damn well that I'm not!_

Lilly just shook her head.

Ten minutes later they sat at the small table in her room, eating in silence. Lilly guessed that with anybody else the silence would have been uncomfortable, but with Danny it felt okay, somehow. Plus, they were both exhausted and not in the mood to make polite conversation only to kill the silence.

"So… guess you're going back to Philly tomorrow", Danny finally said.

Lilly shrugged. "Depends. Maybe you were wrong about Dina. Maybe Mrs Guerin is actually _Mrs Guerin_, and we'll have to start all over again."

"No way…"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Means, I'm never wrong."

"Really, Agent Taylor?"

"Okay, sometimes I am. I was very wrong about you, at first…" He almost whispered that and their eyes met for a second but then Lilly turned her head, though reluctantly.

Danny had finished eating and pushed the almost empty food container away so he could lean over the table; his face now very close to Lilly's. She could almost feel his breath on her skin.

Lilly knew this was the moment she would have to say she was very tired _and_ that he should leave _and_ that they would see each other the next day.

Only… she couldn't.

Not to Danny Taylor, anyway.

For a few seconds she was paralysed; torn between her usual professionalism – which was telling her firmly to make Danny leave _right now_ – and those impressing dark eyes that had somehow fascinated her from the very beginning and that were now searching for hers. When she finally dared to meet his gaze she noticed that there was a new expression in his eyes – one she hadn't seen there before.

_Desire._

And finally Lilly gave in to her own desire much quicker than she had thought she would. A gentle brush of his lips against hers turned into a kiss, long and eager, and all of a sudden the table seemed annoyingly in the way.

Lilly wanted to get _closer_ to him.

And stop wondering what was up with her. Professionalism or no professionalism, she was an adult woman with needs and it had been a while since she there had been a man in her life.

And how could this be wrong if it felt so right?

Danny pulled her closer and she was sitting on his knees, when, still, their clothes were in the way.

She _still_ wanted to be even_ closer…_

If she had been thinking clearly she would have been more than surprised by herself; she had never been a women who took control of a situation like this. In fact, most encounters that included this kind of affection brought out the shy girl in her, making her feel like she was sixteen again – when at the same time she could easily take charge of conducting interviews, arresting people…

_Isn't that queer?_

Letting her hands slide under Danny's sweater she was disappointed to be met by a t-shirt, tucked into his jeans. Quick, uncontrolled fingers started to grip the thin fabric and pull in order to un-tuck it, before they made a vague attempt to get rid of that sweater.

As it became quite clear what Lilly wanted Danny finally moved her into a position that made it possible for him to get up from the chair he'd been sitting on and lift her up gently to carry her across the room and lay her down on the bed, slowly. Kneeing above her he leaned in for another kiss before he whispered in her ear, his voice low and rough: "You really want this?"

Lilly didn't even have to answer; just closing her eyes she let Danny take over control…


	11. Chapter 11

XI.

When Lilly awoke it was still dark – still in the middle of the night. She was alone in bed, like she usually was, but somehow that felt strange now. Then – as the sleepiness faded – she remembered; the trip down to the boat-house, the man in there, her being knocked unconscious and Danny having taken a short, involuntary bath in the Hudson River.

_And then the rest of the evening. _

That had been… she couldn't find a word that really fit.

Maybe _surreal..._

They had had sex – long, slow, passionate sex – and it had been as good as Lilly had expected it to be, better even, and yet… she didn't know what to think of it.

What she _did_ know was the fact that it annoyed her she was alone in bed now. When she had fallen asleep before she had been lying in Danny's arms, enjoying how it made her feel safe and warm and wanted.

But he was gone now.

_Or was he?_

Hearing the sounds of somebody moving behind her Lilly turned over in bed. The room was dimly lit by the always shining city lights outside and Lilly could see the tall, slender silhouette moving around the room.

_Danny_.

He was already half clothed and was picking up the rest of his things from where they had landed on the ground earlier. Being busy he hadn't noticed Lilly being awake.

"That how you treat a woman? Lure her into bed and the leave, secretly, in the middle of the night?" Lilly asked.

Her voice sounded strange now, in this dark, silent room and it made Danny halt, obviously startled. After her eyes had adjusted to the darkness she could see him a lot better now. He was looking at her.

"Did I wake you up? I was going to leave a note…"

"A _note_? Saying _'Hi Lilly, thanks for the sex, see you at the office'_; like _that_?"

Danny shrugged, hesitantly. "Maybe…" She heard _never_ heard insecurity in his voice but it was definitely there now.

She didn't know what to say; there was a silence in the room that soon became very uncomfortable.

Eventually deciding that he probably owed her an explanation Danny finally said: "Listen, I just… I just didn't want you to get a wrong impression. This was a _one-night-thing _only."

"I know", Lilly said, before thinking about it.

_Hell_, she had known that, hadn't she?

The truth was she hadn't thought about it, yet. Not at all. The whole situation confused her and she didn't really know how she felt about it. All she _did_ know was that she didn't want Danny to leave. She wanted him to spend the rest of the night with her, not yet caring about what the morning would bring.

She _had_ known it was just a one-night-stand.

Hadn't she?

"Doesn't mean you have to leave", she whispered.

He stood in front of her, clad only in jeans, shirt not yet pulled on, and although there was not enough light to see it she knew he was eyeing her doubtfully.

"There's no reason you can't stay here until morning, and it doesn't mean I'll want you to spend the rest of your life with me", Lilly continued. "C'mon, you're tired and exhausted and you shouldn't have to drive all the way home now." She lifted the blanket a bit, fully aware of the fact that she was still completely naked, exposing her body to him. "_Come on_", she repeated, more persistently.

Finally he sighed and smiled. "Okay… never _wanted_ to leave, anyway…" Moments later he slipped under the blanket beside her, still clad in his boxer-shorts, and moved close, pulling her naked body into a warm embrace. It made Lilly sigh, too.

Danny fell asleep quickly but she couldn't quite relax. Only she didn't know why. After all, she now had what she had wanted; he was lying beside her. She could feel him, smell him, could actually see him, as she stared at his arm, wrapped tightly around her waist.

Had she done the right thing? Maybe she should have just let him walk out, meet him in the office in the morning, ignoring the strange feeling that sexual encounter with him would have caused, and wrap that case up. Than she would have left New York – and him – behind and that would have been it.

Was she going to be able to do that now?

Sure – she had agreed on this being a one-night-stand. But why had she said it? The reason was; she had wanted him to stay. And why was that? Because she cared. Lilly had hardly ever had a one-night-stand before and – unlike her greedy sister – she also didn't believe in sex without love. But did that mean she loved Danny? No – how could that be possible if she hardly knew him?

The thoughts going on in her head made Lilly more and more awake. And she could no longer lie still. Carefully so she wouldn't wake Danny up she gently slipped out from under his arm. The movement making him stir, and for a moment she thought he was awake. But he just turned over to lie on his back, still fast asleep. For a while Lilly just stared at him, watching the rise and fall of his chest with every breath and the tiny movements in face; his mouth, nose, cheekbones… he looked so damn adorable like this; sleeping soundly.

When she was finally able to break away from the sight Lilly crawled to the edge of the bed, scanning the ground for her suitcase. Having found it she fished a t-shirt and some underwear from it and after pulling it on she decided to stop thinking and enjoy the rest of the night for as long as it lasted. Reaching for the blanket she covered them both then curled up against Danny's lean solid body, sighing as she felt him wrap his arm around her in his sleep.

………………

Danny woke up feeling miserable. He was in a strange bed in a strange room but that wasn't the reason for it since could very well remember how he got here. But he felt guilty for what had happened; him having used Lilly as a distraction from that mess his life had come to be.

She didn't deserve it.

Only he wasn't so sure if that was all she had been to him; a distraction. But he didn't feel ready to try and figure that out now.

He rubbed his eyes, noticing that for the first time in weeks the sun was shining and the sky was an innocent blue with no clouds at all. And another thing he noticed; he had totally overslept! It was almost eight a.m. and he was supposed to be in Jack's office by eight.

_Damn it._

Reaching for his jeans he was going to look for his cell phone when he suddenly remembered. He had lost it in the water yesterday.

_Damn it again!_

Danny got up carefully, unsure if he should wake Lilly. He was a bit surprised she was still sleeping; she had seemed like the type who would never forget to set the alarm, but obviously he hadn't been the only one who had got distracted last night.

As he slipped into his clothes he couldn't help staring at Lilly the whole time, wondering what he was going to do. He hadn't wanted to hurt her and he knew he should have never let himself get carried away the way he did last night, but he couldn't turn back the time. And from the way she had reacted last night when he had wanted to leave he _knew_ he had hurt her. So he had stayed, unsure if that was the right thing.

It had been nice, though.

And it had done him good that was for sure, but it didn't justify his behaviour. And he would at least explain it to her. After all, he would have to wake her up anyway, they still had work to do – and he would have to ask her if he could use her phone again.

She looked beautiful in sleep – fragile and sweet – and he couldn't help but smile when suddenly the word _princess_ came to his mind again.

_God_ – that seemed like a lifetime ago.

Thinking it _now_ was completely different. The funny thing just was that two days ago he had really thought she was a woman he would never end up in bed with. _Never_.

_Or had he?_

Lilly was stirring and finally Danny pulled himself together and walked over to touch her shoulder lightly. It was enough to make her wake up. He noticed that was wearing a white t-shirt now; when had she put that on?

"Hey." Her sleepy voice sounded as sweet to him as she had looked.

"Hey…"

Silence.

_C'mon, Taylor, you ain't got all day to stand here and stare at her._

"Listen… Lilly, I'm really sorry…"

"We spoke about it last night", she cut him off, her voice sounding much more awake and less sweet now.

"Yes, still… I just… uh… wanted to let you know… it's not because I don't want you… I mean… like you…"

_Oh for fuck's sake, Taylor, stop stammering like this!_

Pushing the blanket aside to get out of bed Lilly noticed the time as well and it surely didn't improve her mood. She looked very grumpy. Scowling at Danny she finally said: "Well, you made yourself very clear last night, so what's there to talk about now?"

"I just said, I'm sorry."

"Yeah, and _I_ just said let's not talk about it, okay?" Reaching into her suitcase she pulled a few clothes from it, without really caring which, and made to get into the bathroom. "Excuse me, I need to get showered. Have you noticed the time?"

"Lilly…"

"What?"

Danny was losing his patience now, too, although he wasn't so sure if with her or himself. "For what it's worth to you, I wish we could turn this into more, I really do but…"

"It didn't sound like that last night…"

"… but at the moment I just can't. There a lot of… issues I have to deal with at the moment. I can't… well – it wouldn't be fair on you."

"Whatever."

The bathroom door closed behind her and Danny was left alone the room, feeling worse than ever. But hell, why would she not be angry with him? He had used her and she knew it. Only he wasn't so sure if having _used_ her was the right expression for it, it had been a wonderful night and he knew they had both enjoyed it as much as they had longed for it. And he had meant what he had said, too.

Still – he hadn't dealt with that Martin thing, yet, and it was still bothering him – this morning more than ever – and he wanted nothing less than to involve Lilly in that mess.

Deciding to use the next payphone on the way back to his car to call Jack, Danny made to leave. Once outside he felt the sun shining onto his still tired body, but could not enjoy it. It was a warm, beautiful autumn day, but to Danny it felt as though the weather was mocking him. Walking quickly he soon had totally forgotten about his phone-call. He reached his car, opened it and slipped in, slamming the door shut, loudly.

For a moment he just stared straight ahead watching the people pass by his windshield, thoughts running through his head so hash he could almost not bear it anymore. But finally they subsided making room for another feeling; sadness.

His stupid life was a mess – it had been _before_ last night, and now he had messed it up even more.

_God_ – how he hated it…

Crossing his arms on the steering wheel he leaned forward to bury his face in them – carefully to not hit the horn – and then, finally, for the first time since the night of the ambush, he gave in to the pain he bottled up inside for weeks – and did something he hadn't done in years: he cried. Soundlessly, just letting the tears run freely until there were no more left.


	12. Chapter 12

XII.

Jack Malone was sitting in his office, looking at his watch for fourth time in about as many minutes. It was half past eight, and he had expected Danny half an hour ago. He had tried to call him on his home number more than once, but nobody had answered the phone. And since Danny had lost his cell phone the previous day there wasn't much else for Jack to do than sit and wait.

Oh – _and_ he was going to call Detective Rush.

He wanted to speak to her as well since he had new information on their case's newest developments. He hadn't called her yet, though, thinking that he was going to have a conversation with Danny first. However, now Jack reached for the phone…

… which chose exactly that moment to start ringing. Grabbing the receiver Jack barked his name into it: "Malone."

"Jack, it's Danny." The voice sounded hesitant and surprisingly insecure. In short; not like Danny at all.

"Where the hell _are_ you?"

"Listen I… I overslept. I'm still at home."

"I tried to call you earlier."

Danny didn't answer right away. When he finally did his voice sounded even more hesitant. "I… I didn't hear the phone, I'm sorry."

"What the hell is wrong with you lately?" Jack asked directly, his voice more worried than angry, but he didn't give Danny a chance to answer: "However, you think you can be here at nine?" He wouldn't have gotten a proper answer, anyway.

"Yeah, I guess…" Without another word Danny hung up and Jack was listening to the phone beeping. With a sigh he dropped the receiver – and lifted it up to his ear again, when he remembered that he wanted to call Lilly Rush.

Her voice sounded irritated when she answered the phone. "Rush."

"Hi, it's Jack Malone."

"Agent Malone. What can I do for you?"

"There's a few news I'd like to tell you. In fact, I think you two solved the case. I spoke to your boss earlier this morning; he wants you to return to Philadelphia. I'll tell you more you're here. Could you make it at nine?"

"Sure."

The conversation was over and Jack hung up, confused. Something didn't seem right, and an idea made its way into Jack's mind causing him to frown; he didn't like it. But then his thoughts were interrupted by Sam who came storming into his office without knocking.

"Jack, we just found Mr. Connor and his wife. They are safe and sound – and not as innocent as they appeared to be…"

"They are not the only ones, these days…" Jack mumbled.

"Huh?"

"Nothing. So, where are they?"

"Just a few floors away from you, being questioned by our people."

"Well done." Jack nodded approvingly, his mind still elsewhere.

"Jack, what's going on?"

Shaking his head Jack considered telling Sam, then he decided not to but she remained adamant. Instead of leaving like she was supposed to do she sat on one of the chairs opposite Jack's desk, waiting. "What's wrong?"

"I was just… uh… wondering. Can you remember the last time Danny overslept?"

Now Sam looked confused.

"I mean, when was he ever _one hour_ late for work?"

Sam shrugged. "I think he was once, but that's gotta be three years ago. Although, I don't remember if it was him or Martin, though…"

"No, that was him. I remember. So once, three years ago. And today."

"So what?" Sam asked.

"I don't know. It just seems… suspicious…"

"_Suspicious_?"

"However. It doesn't matter, Sam. You can leave now."

Obviously taking the hint Sam stood up and walked towards the door. But before she left she turned back one more time: "Don't be too hard on him, Jack. He's had a rough couple of weeks."

"I'm surprised to hear that coming from you, Sam."

Sam smiled. "I know, but somewhere deep inside, I've got a heart as well."

"Never doubted that."

………………

When he had finally regained his composure enough to he feel able to drive, Danny had driven home and had arrived there at about 8.30. It was the moment he had seen the display of his alarm clock he had remembered that meeting with Jack he should have been at, half an hour earlier.

He had totally forgotten to call his boss!

With an unfamiliarly nervous feeling in his stomach he had sat on his couch, picked up the phone and dialled Jack's office number, unsure what to tell him.

Lucky for him Jack hadn't asked too many questions, and Danny had agreed to come to his office at nine, although he had no idea how to make it. But since he knew he wasn't going to make it all if he remained sitting on the couch wondering, he got up, walked into the bathroom and took a less-than-two-minutes shower. After shaving and brushing his teeth he walked into the bed-room to find some clothes wear.

He slipped into the next best not caring if they matched and was – only moments later – on the way to work. He felt the beginning of a headache – a consequence of crying so much, maybe? – and his throat felt sore. Cursing, Danny realised that he was probably bound to get a cold after that dunking in the river and staying in his wet clothes for way too long.

When he arrived at work he ran straight into Vivian.

"Hey."

She was smiling up at him and he smiled back, half-heartedly.

"You okay?" she asked.

"I'm fine. You?"

"Never been better."

The both lied _and_ they both knew it. But there was noting more to say and neither of them wanted a discussion. Danny excused himself and hurried on. When arrived at Jack's office he saw through the glass door that his boss wasn't the only one waiting for him; on one of the chairs in front of the desk Lilly was sitting, seemingly trying hard to keep her expression neutral.

Danny took a deep breath, knocked and entered without waiting for an answer. When he saw Jack raising an eyebrow while looking at his watch he just said: "Sorry."

Jack sighed. "Don't worry. Take a seat."

Danny did as he had been told.

"Now…" Jack looked from one to the other and Danny got the strange feeling that his boss knew what had happened last night. Between him and Lilly. And – he had to admit – it was probably not even a surprise. _We could have it printed on our foreheads and it wouldn't be any more obvious_, he thought, glancing at Lilly. She seemed determined to ignore him at the moment.

"… let me get straight to the point", Jack continued , interrupting Danny's thoughts. "I just made a few phone calls and I now know who the man in the boat-house yesterday was. I also know that this morning he confessed being involved in the murder of Linda Guerin."

If things had been different Danny would turned to Lilly now, grinning and saying something like: _See? I was right after all!_ However, now he just remained still, looking at Jack to see if he anything else to say. And so did Lilly.

"The man's name is Edward Kingston."

The name sounded familiar to Danny and thinking about it now, the face had seemed vaguely familiar yesterday, as well.

"He was Amy Bradfort's boss."

Now Danny remembered. He had never met Kingston, but had seen a photo. The team had considered him a suspect, but just briefly before dropping it again. Obviously _that_ had been a mistake. Curious now, Danny asked: "So? Did he lie about the last time he saw Dina?"

"Dina?" For a moment Jack looked confused, but then his face lit up. "Oh, right; Dina. No, he didn't. In fact, Mr Kingston did lie at all. He called the police, remember? Saying that Amy hadn't arrived for work – yeah, I know her real name is Dina, but let me just stick to Amy, okay? – and that was the truth as well. Only, what he didn't tell us, was that he knew that Amy didn't come to work because now she was living the life of Mrs Linda Guerin."

"But how is he involved?" Lilly asked now, speaking for the first time since Danny had entered the room.

Ignoring the question Jack went on: "Mrs. Guerin – the _real_ Mrs. Guerin – was already gone for a while by the time we started investigating."

"What? For how long?" Danny wanted to know.

"About a week and a half. Seems that Amy killed her some time at the end of the week, before that that Friday her boss claimed to have last seen her."

"Wait a moment – you saying that during that one week…"

"… she was being Amy Bradfort and Linda Guerin at the same time – yes. To most people around she already was Mrs. Guerin. That gave her time to change her appearance – on behalf of Linda Guerin. Some of the other neighbour did even know that but of course they didn't tell us because we never asked."

Danny was speechless for a moment – something that didn't happen very often. Finally he found the words to ask: "So, Dina Larstrom was Linda Guerin and Amy Bradfort at the same time? How did that work?"

Lilly sighed. "That's obvious, isn't? I guess she turned into Mrs Guerin just after she had killed the _real_ Mrs. Guerin, except for when she was at work. Then she was Amy. And since nobody in the neighbourhood did really miss Amy because she didn't have any social contacts except to Mrs Guerin, and nobody missed Mrs Guerin at work because she didn't _have_ a job nobody suspected anything."

"That's right", Jack said.

There was moment of silence in the room.

"What will happen now?" Danny finally wanted to know.

"Well, since this isn't a missing person's case anymore it will be handed to the NYPD. I guess Amy or Dina or whatever her name is will be tried for murder." Jack turned to Lilly: "I spoke with your boss this morning. He wants you to be back this afternoon. We'll stay in contact, though."

Lilly nodded and rose from her seat. "Okay, thank you, Sir. That all?"

Jack stood up as well to shake her hand and smile at her. "Yes. You two did well, and it was a pleasure to work with you, Detective", he said. "I think, Agent Taylor will agree."

"Sure", Danny made himself say. Although he didn't want to he looked up to meet Lilly's eyes. She was looking back, but he could read nothing from her expression. So he just took her extended hand to shake it as well. "Detective Rush."

"Agent Taylor."

No good-byes were said and Lilly took her briefcase and walked away. When Danny made to leave as well, Jack's voice held him back. "Danny?"

"Yeah…"

"You got a minute?"

"Sure", he sighed, slumping down on the chair again. Now what could Jack want? Still giving him that lecture about not telling him about the boat-house, yesterday?

"Something going on between you two?"

Danny looked at him, questioningly. _How the hell…?_

"I mean you and Detective Rush."

"I _know_ who you mean. I just can't see why that is any of your business."

Shrugging, Jack replied: "It isn't. And since you don't want to talk about it…"

Getting impatient, Danny started to fidget on his seat. "Listen Jack, is there anything else you want to speak to me about? Or can I get back to work?"

"You can go home now, that's what you can do."

"What?" Danny didn't believe it. "You're sending me home? Why?"

"Because I think you should get some rest."

"Jack, it's morning! I haven't done anything, yet."

"But you had a hard time, lately, and you spend half an hour yesterday outside in this weather in wet clothes and you _really_ need some time off. I should have made you take a few days a long time ago, and since I didn't I'm going to make up for that now. And don't even _start_ to argue because I made my mind up and I don't want you here today. Get go home and get some rest and don't come back before tomorrow. Heard me?"

"Yes Sir."

Danny was already halfway out when Jack held him back once more: "Oh, you _can_, actually, if possible, make sure you replace your phone, today."

"Yes Sir."

On his way out Danny met Sam. She didn't say anything but gave him a warm smile. It didn't really lift his mood, but still he was grateful for it. He left the building quickly, thinking about what to do with his time.

Maybe, Jack was right and the first thing he should do was replace his phone. And then… nervousness overcame him again… he could finally go and see Martin. Maybe apologize for not having been there for his friend before.

It sounded like a plan and Danny was determined to stick to it.

………………

A few hours later he was sitting in his car a few blocks away from where Martin lived. He was nervous and so far he hadn't been able to gather the courage to get out of the car, walk down the street and ring Martin's doorbell.

What if he still looked as bad as he had been when Danny had last seen him?

Eager to put the visit off for another few minutes Danny fetched his new phone from the pocket of his jeans. He had bought right after leaving from work and then he had gone home to get changed out of his suit and spend a few hours in front of the TV. He had fallen asleep and when he had woken up it had almost been noon. It had taken all the strength he had to sit in his car and drive all the way here.

For a while Danny considered calling Martin to see if he was at home. But he wasn't sure if the phone was working yet. So he dialled his own home number first – just to test it.

The beeping sound told Danny it was working. He was about to dial Martin's number when a thought came to his mind. Maybe he should call Lilly. The way they had departed that morning just didn't seem right to him.

He didn't have her number anymore since it was saved on his old phone but Danny had a good enough memory to remember it partly. It took him a few attempts but finally there it was; _her voice_. He was just about to say something when he realised he had just reached the mail box.

Impatiently he waited so he could at least leave her a message. Clearing his throat he finally spoke: "Hi Lilly, it's me." – It's _me_? – Quickly he added: "It's Danny Taylor. Listen, I… I just wanted to tell you that I've got a new phone number. So if you have any more questions – I mean, about the case – you… uh… just call me, okay? So… um… well, bye."

He hung up and put the phone away, taking a deep breath. That had been difficult, but what was coming now would be even more difficult…


	13. Chapter 13

XIII

Martin had just coincidently looked out of the window the moment the car had turned around the corner into his street. It seemed familiar and therefore Martin had remained by the window, waiting.

But nothing happened. Nobody got out and the longer Martin stared at it the more stupid he felt.

So he tried to distract himself. Being determined to get back to work as soon as possible – no matter what his doctors, his family or even his co-workers might say – he had been making a real effort over the last two days to regain his strength. And even more so since he had spoken to Sam on the phone last night.

She had called to ask him if he wanted her to come and see him that night – she and the team were on a case but she had said she would still be able to make it for half an hour or so. Martin had told her not to worry. She was stressed enough – he didn't want to be the reason for it getting worse.

So they had talked on the phone for a little while. Of course he hadn't been able to stop himself from asking about Danny. Unlike the other times, when they had spoken, Sam seemed hesitant this time, when the subject came up. Martin could still remember her words:

"_I think, he's still fighting his own demons, but he seems to be getting better…"_

Viv had said something like that, too.

Despite this not being the best of all news Martin could live with it. In fact he preferred this to the overprotective lies everybody had kept telling him before; it was a reassuring feeling to know the truth. And he was going to stick to Sam's advice:

"_Leave Danny alone for a bit. He needs to recover from that night as much as you do – if not physically, though. He'll be fine by the time you're back at work, and then you two can try and talk about what happened. But he will need time to recover by himself."_

Sam was right. They both needed time.

Yet, before he knew what he was doing, Martin was standing by the window again, feeling a little nervous now. The car was still there and a man had gotten out of it. It was too far away for him to see the person properly but who ever it was, he came walking down the street towards Martin's house.

Judging from height and build it _could_ be Danny – Martin's heart beat a little faster – but the way he moved, slow and hesitant, didn't look like his co-worker at all. The man had lowered his head but he was soon close enough for Martin to recognise him; it was Danny after all!

He stopped a few metres away from the house, hesitated a moment and finally looked up, causing Martin to almost jump away from the window and feeling stupid at the same time for doing so.

Still, he was nervous. He watched, carefully to not be seen by the other man, as Danny just stood there, staring at his house.

"C'mon", Martin said into the silence of his living-room. "I won't go outside to get you."

Just when he thought Danny was going to move on, the other man reached into his pocket and a moment later his hand reappeared, clutching his cell phone. Martin sighed. He had a bad feeling about was going to be next.

And of course he was right.

Pressing his lips together in anger and disappointment Martin leaned his head against the wall and watched as Danny turned around and walked away again. He wanted to call his friend and ask him to come back but then Sam's words came to his mind again.

_He needs time to recover by himself._

He would give Danny that time. And himself, too.

………………

Lilly was actually ready to leave. Hours had passed since she had left Malone's office and still she couldn't get herself to sit in her car and just drive away. What was it Stillman had said? Be back in the afternoon? She looked at her watch. What time did he consider _afternoon_?

She knew quite well, that she was supposed to leave now but before she knew it she was holding her phone in her hand, instead – and was surprised to find it switched off.

_Oh_ – she remembered; she had switched off earlier because she had wanted some time to think without being interrupted. While thinking she had actually planned to go for a little walk through the city's busy streets but when she had returned to the motel she had realised that her walk had taken over two hours!

She was hungry now.

Turning the phone own she noticed two missed calls, and both callers had left messages. One was from Stillman, the other one from a number she didn't know.

Lilly sighed; it wasn't hard to guess who the call had been from – and she wasn't surprised when she listened to the message Danny had left her. She couldn't help grinning when she heard him stammer a little. It was cute.

_Cute? - Yeah, that's right, Lilly: cute._

She wanted to call Stillman, but her hand seemed to have other plans. She had no control over it; it dialled the number on its own and soon there was a voice on the other end of the line.

"Taylor."

"Danny, hi. It's Lilly."

"Hey. Where are you?"

"Still at the motel."

Danny didn't answer for a while. "When are you going to leave?" he finally asked, sounding astonished.

"I don't know. I think I'm going to need to eat some lunch first and I was wondering if you might want to join me… maybe you know a good place?"

When replied she could hear from his voice that he was grinning. "Yes, I sure do. But what about your boss?"

_Screw my boss_, Lilly thought, but aloud she just said: "He'll have to wait."

"Okay, then I'll meet you at the motel in half an hour."

Lilly wondered if until then she was going to be starved. Since she had checked out before leaving for her walk she had no room to stay in, either, but that wasn't too bad; the sun was still shining and it had gotten really warm over the day. She spent the time waiting for Danny in the parking lot, leaned against her car and enjoying what would probably be the last late summer day for this year.

Danny arrived just in time. He parked his car next to hers and told her they were going to walk to the restaurant.

Lilly was relieved when they finally arrived.

"Chinese?"

Danny shrugged. "I thought you like Chinese."

"I do."

"So, where's the problem?"

"There is none."

The place wasn't very busy and they found a table where there was almost nobody else around. They ordered and neither said anything until the food arrived.

"Why do you think she did it?"

Lilly was taken aback. "Who?"

"Dina. Why do you think she did that, murdering the two women who were probably her only friends?"

Lilly shrugged. "Maybe she thought they had a better life than she did. Maybe she wanted their money; both – Amy and Mrs Guerin were quite wealthy. But maybe it's just like you said before, Danny; she crazy. In some cases that's enough."

"Yeah, I suppose, it's sad but it's the way it is."

They ate in silence until Lilly thought of something. "So… do you think it was because of our visit two days ago Dina became nervous and had the body removed?"

Danny shrugged and answered with his mouth full: "Probably."

When they had finished Lilly looked at her watch. "I think, I will have to hurry now. And what about you - don't you have to get back to work at some time?" She reached into her pocket for her wallet.

"No. I have a day off. – No, put that away; I'm paying. You paid last night, remember?"

_Last night._ Yeah she remembered

Danny paid for their food and drinks and they made to leave. When they arrived at the parking lot Lilly felt strangely sad. But bravely, she put on a smile. "So, I think I have to leave now."

"Not holding you back", he replied, sounding amused.

"Agent Taylor, it's been a pleasure working with you." Lilly grinned as they shook hands for the second time that day. _Oh – and sleeping with you_, she added in thoughts. _As long as you don't count the morning after…_

"Have a safe trip", she heard him call after her as she turned and walked towards her car. Suddenly, she felt very dissatisfied,.

_C'mon Taylor, can't just let me leave like that…_

"Thanks, I will!" she called back.

_Come on! Say something! Just _something

"Lilly?"

It took all her will-power to not turn around too eagerly, but Lilly managed to keep her cool. "Yes?"

"D'you think it would be okay, if I called you some time? Maybe ask you out on a _real_ date?"

Laughing Lilly answered: "I don't think that would be a problem."

"Great." He came towards her and before she knew it he put his arms around her to pull her into a warm hug. Feeling her dissatisfaction being replaced by satisfaction Lilly wrapped her arms around his waist to return the hug - before finally, they parted, reluctantly, and she got into her car, started the engine and drove away.

_The End_

**Author's notes:** Yep, it's done. And I have to say I had a lot of fun writing this story.

Thank you for reading and for all the friendly reviews; it made working on this so much easier. Thank you also for ignoring all the little and the bigger mistakes I made – I know there are quite a few…

I actually planned an open end to that Danny-and-Lilly story from the beginning – to leave it to your imagination if there will be more between them or not. I _have_, however, also considered the possibility of writing a sequel some time and maybe let them get together. I'm not sure if they would really make a good couple, though. You are, of course, free to give me your opinion on that.

I never understood why there wasn't a 'real' episode that took place between "Showdown" and "Safe", I'm sure it would have been interesting (at least for us Danny-fans) and so I made up my own. I guess, if there had been one it could have been a bit like this.

So again – thank you for reading!


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